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Previously on this very site I’ve written about some very tasty foodstuffs from my childhood, including Galaxy Counters (which many have rejoiced about the return of) and Bird’s Instant Hot Crunch Puddings (which many would like to see brought back).
It’s surprising then why when there are so many foods that we are all eager to see return, there are others which are still around today which many would not miss should they disappear from shop shelves. One such example is the Pot Noodle.
Pot Noodle were made by Golden Wonder and first appeared in UK shops in 1979, although they were previously developed in Japan where they are known as Cup Noodle. Given that when the name Pot Noodle is mentioned most will respond with something along the lines of “Urgh!”, “Yuck!” or “Bleurgh!”, it’s a (golden) wonder they are still around.
Why do so many people have this reaction? Consisting of dried noodles, pieces of soya protein and the odd dried vegetable, you make them up by adding boiling water from a kettle and then emptying in a little sachet of flavouring. Doesn’t bode that well, does it? There are a multitude of flavours available (e.g. Chicken and Mushroom, Curry and Beef & Tomato) but somehow they all seem to taste fairly similar – that is they taste like cardboard floating in dissolved OXO cubes.
Quite why the Pot Noodle tastes this way I’m not really sure. I’ve tried a Japanese Cup Noodle before and they aren’t that bad, and Batchelor’s Super Noodles always seem to taste OK and are broadly similar, so there is no real excuse.
So why are they still around? Well, I’m sure a great many people who went to University can answer that question. Hands up how many of you existed on these for a few weeks during your student life, before you lost all will to live and finally tried to cook something yourself (or rely on the University canteen).
I don’t know what you mean ….. but I’ve not touched on in nearly 19 years now !
I’m surprised they still sell in sufficient quantities to stay on the supermarket shelves but I suppose someone must be eating them. They are pretty useful to take camping as you don’t need to wash up, if you take some plastic forks you can just chock the packet and the fork away when you are finished.