Instant noodle remedy

WHEN you consider the origins of instant noodles – developed in the 1950s, to feed the Japanese devastated by war – this food evokes images of adversity. Whilst its historic significance may have been lost amongst those who enjoy it today, this food has remained popular through the years for many reasons. They are warm and filling, cheap, easy to cook, and shelf stable. Production-wise, the ingredients are widely available and acceptable to most consumers anywhere.

Instant noodles have become a favourite convenience snack amongst young and old, regardless of economic status. They are considered a ubiquitous meal seen in kitchen pantries, college dorms, office desks, and even prisons, and they are often part of a relief goods package. For all its simplicity, a lowly instant noodle package is not so lowly when its sociological impact is considered.

There is more to learn from Deborah Gewertz, in the book, The Noodle Narratives: The Global Rise of an Industrial Food into the Twenty-First Century. Whilst most consumers would take the instant noodle for granted – other than when they’re eating it – Ms Gewertz, the G. Henry Whitcomb 1874 Professor of Anthropology at Amherst College, put some perspective on noodles as a likely solution to world hunger. She writes, instant noodles serve “an important role in satiating hunger and in sustaining lives for many worldwide, including those hanging on under difficult circumstances.”

The book talks about the history, production, marketing and consumption of instant noodles.

“As a protean food designed for quotidian consumption, instant noodles have already shown a remarkable capacity to ease themselves into diverse lives,” she said. “We expect that the calories provided by the tasty, convenient, cheap, shelf-stable, industrially prepared instant noodles will remain important,” as food becomes scarcer in the future.

Ms Gewertz is joined by co-authors, Frederick Errington, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus, at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and Tatsuro Fujikura, professor at the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies at Kyoto University, and a member of Amherst’s Class of 1991. They also describe the biophysiology (pertaining to organogeny, morphology, and physiology) of human taste, provide insight into how marketers penetrate new markets with industrial foods and analyse what it takes to feed billions of people. They examine why instant noodles appeal to a wide demographic.

“Instant noodles thus far have been virtually unstoppable—and, as such, their accomplishments are worthy of serious attention,” they said. “They are telling in what they facilitate and reveal about global capitalist provisioning: They make a lot happen and show a lot happening.”

It is stated in the book introduction that the World Instant Noodles Association (WINA) estimates some 95.39 billion packages and cups of instant noodles were sold during 2010 across a range of markets.

The book also evaluates the inner workings of the manufactured food industry and offers suggestions on how to make instant noodles a healthier option for the world’s population. Better options are to bake the noodles instead of frying them and to add iron or use spices instead of salt and monosodium glutamate (MSG).

The book asks, “How might instant noodles and similar products feature in the various food futures that are proposed—indeed, promoted and implemented—as feasible for a huge world population that includes those who are habitually overfed as well as chAir Max Mercurial R9