1434 HKSAR Name of the Day

Mikki Yao, model, Hong Kong and quite clearly not healthy and not altogether there when, after a 5-day trip to the Maldives, said: "The Maldives has no good food. I'll take cup noodles with me if I have to go there again." (SCMP 29 July 2011)

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Sunny Tsang and Mikki Yao. Pic SCMP

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Of Further Interest ...

Battle lines drawn on instant noodles after US study cites heart risks (SCMP; paywall)

US study linking the Asian staple of budget eating to an increased risk of heart disease has sparked a passionate South Korean defence
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 24 August, 2014, 3:30am


Associated Press

Instant noodles carry a broke-college-student aura in North America, but they are an essential, even passionate, part of life for many in South Korea, Hong Kong and across East Asia. A US study on their health effects has caused the emotional heartburn among their loyal consumers.

The Baylor Heart and Vascular Hospital study linking instant noodles consumption by South Koreans to some risks for heart disease has provoked feelings of wounded pride, guilt, stubborn resistance, even nationalism among South Koreans.

Koreans eat more instant noodles per capita than anyone in the world. Many of those interviewed vowed not to quit. Other noodle lovers offered up techniques they swore kept them healthy: taking Omega-3, adding vegetables, using less seasoning, avoiding the soup. Some dismissed the study because the hospital involved is based in cheeseburger-gobbling America.

"There's no way any study is going to stop me from eating this," says Kim Min-koo, a freelance film editor who indulges in instant noodles about five times a week. "This is the best moment - the first bite, the taste, the smell, the chewiness - it's just perfect."

The heated reaction is partly explained by the omnipresence here of instant noodles, which, for South Koreans, usually mean the spicy, salty ramyeon that cost less than a dollar a package. Individually wrapped disposable bowls and cups are everywhere: internet cafes, libraries, trains, ice-skating rinks. Even at the halfway point of a trail snaking up South Korea's highest mountain, hikers can refresh themselves with cup noodles.

Elderly South Koreans often feel deep nostalgia for instant noodles, which entered the local market in the 1960s as the country began clawing its way out of the poverty and destruction of the Korean war into what's now Asia's fourth-biggest economy. Many vividly remember their first taste of the once-exotic treat, and hard-drinking South Koreans consider instant noodles an ideal remedy for aching, alcohol-laden bellies and hangovers. Some people won't leave the country without them, worried they'll have to eat inferior noodles.

" Ramyeon is like kimchi to Koreans," says Ko Dong-ryun, 36, an engineer from Seoul, referring to the spicy, fermented vegetable dish that graces most Korean meals. "The smell and taste create an instant sense of home."

Ko fills half his luggage with instant noodles for his international business travels, a lesson he learned after assuming on his first trip that three packages would suffice for six days. "Man, was I wrong. Since then, I always make sure I pack enough."

The US study was based on South Korean surveys from 2007-2009 of more than 10,700 adults aged 19 to 64. It found that people who ate a diet rich in meat, soft drinks and fried and fast foods, including instant noodles, were associated with an increase in abdominal obesity and LDL, or "bad," cholesterol. Eating instant noodles more than twice a week was associated with a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome, another heart risk factor, in women but not in men.

The study raises important questions, but can't prove that instant noodles are to blame rather than the overall diets of people who eat lots of them, cautions Alice Lichtenstein, director of the cardiovascular nutrition lab at Tufts University in Boston.

"What's jumping out is the sodium [intake] is higher in those who are consuming ramen noodles," she says. "What we don't know is whether it's coming from the ramen noodles or what they are consuming with the ramen noodles."

There's certainly a lot of sodium in those little cups. A serving of the top-selling instant ramyeon provides more than 90 per cent of South Korea's recommended daily sodium intake. Still, it's tough to expect much nutrition from a meal that costs about 80 US cents (HK$6.20), says Choi Yong-min, 44, marketing director for Paldo, a South Korean food company. "I can't say it's good for your health, but it is produced safely," he said.

About 1.85 trillion won (HK3.9 billion) worth of instant noodles were sold in South Korea in 2012.

By value, instant noodles were the top-selling manufactured food in South Korea in 2012, the most recent year figures are available, with about 1.85 trillion won (HK$13.9 billion) worth sold, according to South Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

China is the world's largest instant noodle market, although its per capita consumption pales next to South Korea's.

Japan, considered the spiritual home of instant noodles, boasts a dazzling array. Masaya "Instant" Oyama, 55, who says he eats more than 400 packs of instant noodles a year, rattles off a sampling: Hello Kitty instant noodles, polar bear instant noodles developed by a zoo, black squid ink instant noodles.

In Tokyo, 33-year-old Miyuki Ogata considers instant noodles a godsend because of her busy schedule and contempt for cooking. They also bring her back to the days when she was a poor student. Every time she eats a cup now, she is celebrating what she calls "that eternal hungry spirit".

In South Korea, it's all about speed, cost and flavour.

Thousands of convenience stores have corners devoted to noodles: Tear off the top, add hot water from a dispenser, wait a couple minutes and it's ready to eat, often at a nearby counter.

At the comic book store she runs in Seoul, Lim Eun-jung, 42, says she noticed a lot more belly fat about six months after she installed a fast-cooking instant noodle machine for customers.

"It's obvious that it's not good for my body," Lim says. "But I'm lazy, and ramyeon is the perfect fast food for lazy people."