Science. It’s pretty great at telling us stuff about stuff. Explanations of phenomena, the structure of solar systems, how the body works, what really small stuff makes up the bits of stuff that we are made of.

There’s even a type of science about nutrition, known as nutritional science. It has discovered that not all foods are created equal.

Some of this we already knew; living off a diet of fried food and bacon grease is probably not the best idea. But some of the revelations they’ve made have been subtler, but still of interest. Think about how athletes eat before and after events and during training as a clear example of the impact of nutritional science.

But it’s also given us insight into just how healthy—surprisingly in some cases—some foodstuffs are. In fact, some are considered so good for you they’ve even been described as “super”. They’re basically The Avengers in food form.

Just like superheroes, legends have sprung up around these miraculous foods. And the thing with legends is they’re legendary—and they carry a layer of mythos with them.

And so we come back to food science. Now we can bust the myths surrounding these foods or prove them to be true once and for all.

So let’s do it! Here are some legendary Asian ingredients that need to be myth-busted!