FollowYou have two papers due tonight at midnight, a midterm early the next day, and an impending date with Main Stacks in order to successfully accomplish these daunting tasks. Are you really going to go through all the trouble of cooking a meal or use up your precious time by consuming a lengthy dining hall dinner? Of course not, you’re going to heat up that Cup of Noodles you’ve got stored away for a rainy day such as this. But what you won’t be considering during this moment of desperation is the cultural significance of ramen’s transformation into its modern cupped form and how its alterations impact our health.
Ramen has transitioned from a Japanese cultural dish into an instant meal substitute infamous for filling the bellies of stressed out college students. Strapped for cash and time, hordes of Cal students often rely on the illustrious contents of those coveted Styrofoam cups to satisfy their hunger without burning holes in their pockets.
Not only is instant ramen remarkably cheap, its convenience is unmatched; getting up and going to a dining hall takes so much time, effort, and meal points- all usually dwindling by this time of year. Simply heat up some water, pour it over the noodle block, and you’ll have a wholesome meal in a matter of minutes! Hmm… Maybe “wholesome” isn’t the right word. At the very least, it keeps you from starving.
How did instant ramen become “instant?” Ramen had been a Japanese home cooked dish and restaurant menu item for quite some time, a meal that traditionally takes much more time and preparation. Ramen didn’t always sit on pantry shelves in the condensed form of a cupped, crunchy noodle ball.
The transformation occurred in 1958, when founder of Nissin Foods, Momofuku Ando, invented instant noodles through the use of flash frying. This new method of production dehydrated the beloved ramen noodle into its now well-known brittle block form through the innovative employment of hydrogenated oils to remove moisture.
Ramen has become a fried processed food, just like KFC and Twinkies; they are similarly devoid of nutrients yet full of fat. These instant noodles are also cheap, as flash frying made it possible to industrially mass produce loads of instant noodle cups. Large corporations could now globally serve Japan in a cup, simultaneously spreading “culture” and cholesterol.
The commodification of ramen into a marketable processed food effectively adapted the Japanese meal into an unhealthy corporate product. The history and significance of the food is obscured by its cheapness and convenience, blinding the consumer with its simplicity. We are left unconsciously slurping away a culture, our health, and overly processed noodles.
In our hectic flurry of midterm cramming and paper BSing, rarely do we consider the sources of our food. It becomes something that we quickly consume without knowledge of where it came from, or how it directly impacts our health. We substitute health for convenience. The recurring trivialization of what we put in our bodies takes away from the experience of food, something that’s meant to be relished and appreciated. The foods we eat constitute our wellbeing, and it is crucial to be conscious of our food’s origin and impact on our overall health.
So instead, treat yourself to a nice meal at Crossroads. While that paradoxical suggestion may induce scoffs of disbelief, your body will thank you for that unprocessed salad or vegan meatball you should be eating.
But let’s be honest, we’re going to head for the pizza and waffle fries. They might not be the healthiest, but at least they aren’t a large corporation’s attempt to appropriate a culture into the confines of a cup to promote profits and systemic obesity. Thanks for looking out for us Croads.
Image source: sundayfoodapprentice.com
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