The story
Coined by Robert Ho Man Kwok in a 1968 letter to the New England Journal of Medicine.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Chinese restaurant syndrome
Today it means: A supposed syndrome associated with consumption of the westernized version of Chinese food, characterized by various symptoms such as burning and tingling sensations, rapid heartbeat, and drowsiness, and initially ascribed to monosodium glutamate (but possibly just psychosomatic, or hypernatremia from overconsumption of salt). Full definition →