Monosodium glutamate (MSG): listening answers and explanations
A lecturer talks about monosodium glutamate, the flavour enhancer used in Chinese and Japanese cooking. She covers its history in Japan, what it is made of, where it is used, and the theory of a fifth taste that tells us food contains protein.
All in order. Questions 31-33 come in the first minute: the lecture's aim, then the history (1908, 1956). Questions 34-40 start with 'So what exactly is MSG?' and follow the notes to the end, finishing with John Prescott's list of what each taste signals.
Answer key and self-check
Type what you wrote and hit mark. Hide the key first if you haven't done the part yet. Every question number jumps to its explanation.
How to attack this block: Dates do the work here. Note 1908 and 1956 in the questions and listen for what happened in each year. For the first question, 'more importantly' marks the main topic.
Question 31
Answer: BThe introduction, when she says what she'll explore today
What is the main topic of the lecture?
Today I am going to explore why it is so popular in these cuisines and, more importantly, how does it enhance the flavour of food?
Question says → You hear
the main topicmore importantly, how does it enhance the flavour of food
Why: 'More importantly' tells you the main focus: how MSG enhances flavour, which is the way it works.
The trap: History and where it's used both get time in the lecture, but neither is introduced as the main topic.
Question 32
Answer: CWhen she explains the tradition of kombu seaweed
What did scientists in Japan do in 1908?
But it wasn't until 1908 that the ingredient in kombu which was responsible for the improvement in flavour was actually discovered to be glutamate by scientists working there.
Question says → You hear
identified glutamateactually discovered to be glutamate by scientists
Why: In 1908 scientists discovered which ingredient improved the flavour: glutamate. That's identifying it.
The trap: Kombu was used 'for many thousands of years', long before 1908. Commercial production is from 1908 onwards, but the question is about what the scientists found.
Question 33
Answer: AStraight after the slow and expensive extraction method
What changed in glutamate production in 1956?
glutamate was produced commercially in Japan by a very slow and expensive means of extraction. It was in 1956 that the speed of the … and industrial production … still continues to increase to this day.
Question says → You hear
manufactured on a large scaleindustrial production … still continues to increase to this day
Why: In 1956 the process got faster and industrial production rose dramatically. That's large-scale manufacture.
The trap: 'Slow and expensive' and 'extraction' describe the method before 1956, which is where B and C come from.
Note completion (NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS)
Questions 34-40
How to attack this block: The notes are close to the lecture's wording. The last bullet is a list of tastes and what they signal, in the same order as the notes, so keep your place by the taste words: sweetness, bitterness, sourness, saltiness.
Question 34
Answer: waterWhen she asks 'So what exactly is MSG?'
What makes up the remaining 9.6% of MSG?
twelve point two per cent sodium and nine point six per cent water.
Question says → You hear
(9.6%)nine point six per cent water
Why: The percentages are read in the same order as the notes, and 9.6% is water.
The trap: Glutamate and sodium are printed. Don't write 'amino acid', which comes next and describes glutamate.
Question 35
Answer: meatWhen she explains what glutamate is
Also accepted: cheese
What is one protein food that contains glutamate?
Glutamate is an amino acid that can be found naturally in all protein-containing foods, erm, so this includes food such as meat and cheese.
Question says → You hear
foods that contain protein such asprotein-containing foods … such as meat and cheese
Why: 'Such as' is in both, and the two examples are meat and cheese. Either can go in either gap.
The trap: Pizzas, fast food and crisps come later, but as foods with added MSG, not natural protein foods.
Question 36
Answer: cheeseSame sentence as the previous answer
Also accepted: meat
What is the other protein food that contains glutamate?
so this includes food such as meat and cheese.
Question says → You hear
andmeat and cheese
Why: The second example is cheese. The key accepts meat and cheese in either order, but don't write the same word twice.
The trap: Writing 'meat and cheese' in one gap leaves the other empty. One food per gap.
Question 37
Answer: 5th tasteWhen she talks about the four tastes in the Western world
Also accepted: fifth taste / new taste
What did Kikunae Ikeda discover in 1908?
and I'm sure you're all familiar with the concepts of sweet, sour, bitter and salt. Well, in 1908, Kikunae Ikeda identified a fifth 'taste'.
Question says → You hear
discovered aidentified a fifth 'taste'
Why: 'Identified' becomes 'discovered'. Write fifth taste, 5th taste or new taste: two words.
The trap: 'Taste' alone loses the key idea, and 'glutamate' was discovered by other scientists that same year.
Question 38
Answer: commonStraight after the fifth taste
Why does our ability to detect glutamate make sense?
It does make perfect evolutionary sense that we should have the ability to detect or taste glutamate because it is the amino acid which is most common in natural foods.
Question says → You hear
it is so ... naturallythe amino acid which is most common in natural foods
Why: 'Most common in natural foods' becomes 'so ... naturally'. After 'so', you need the adjective alone: common.
The trap: 'Most common' is the phrase you hear, but 'so most common' doesn't work. 'Evolutionary' is in the sentence too, but it's about the sense, not glutamate.
Question 39
Answer: bitternessWhen she moves to John Prescott's ideas, after sweetness
Which taste tells us food contains toxins?
Bitterness, he says, alerts us of … in the food, while sourness warns us of spoilage
Question says → You hear
tells us that a food contains toxinsBitterness, he says, alerts us of
Why: 'Alerts us of' becomes 'tells us', and the taste is bitterness. Use the noun form to match sweetness and sourness in the notes.
The trap: 'Bitter' is the adjective from the earlier list of four tastes. The notes use nouns, so bitterness.
Question 40
Answer: mineralsThe end of Prescott's list, right after sourness
What does saltiness tell us a food contains?
while sourness warns us of spoilage and saltiness signals the presence of minerals.
Question says → You hear
saltiness tells us that a food containssaltiness signals the presence of minerals
Why: 'Signals the presence of' becomes 'tells us that a food contains'. The answer is minerals, plural.
The trap: Sodium is a mineral and comes up earlier, but it's not what she says here. 'Spoilage' goes with sourness, which is printed.
She mentions why MSG is popular and its history, but 'more importantly, how does it enhance the flavour of food?' marks the main topic: the way it works.
Kombu had been used for thousands of years, and MSG production came later. In 1908 scientists discovered that the ingredient in kombu was glutamate: they identified it.
The gap needs an adjective after 'so': common. 'Most common' is what she says, but 'so most common' isn't grammatical.
Words from this recording worth keeping
flavour enhancer(Introduction)
something that makes food taste stronger
cuisines(Introduction)
styles of cooking from a country or region
incorporated(History in Japan)
included as part of something
extraction(History in Japan)
taking a substance out of something
amino acid(What MSG is)
one of the building blocks of protein
intensifies(The fifth taste)
makes stronger
evolutionary(The fifth taste)
related to how species develop over time
spoilage(What tastes signal)
food going bad
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The full Cambridge 7 Test 4 listening paper with the real audio: all four parts, played once, marked the moment you finish. Already done it? Take it again and listen for the traps this page showed you.
Cambridge IELTS 7, Test 4, Listening Part 4. The recording, transcript and questions belong to Cambridge University Press and are not reproduced here. We quote short extracts of the transcript only as evidence for our own commentary, and the answers are published for self-marking. Get the book for the full material, or sit the test on Langujet.
