Cup Noodles are a big deal in Japan. See that silvery statue in the back? That's the guy who invented the instant noodle as we know them today, Momofuku Ando. This statue had a steady stream of people wanting a photo-op. I can't even begin to imagine the number of peace signs this statue has overseen.
Ando developed instant noodles as an easily accessible, familiar, and cheap, food for post-war Japan. Their purpose is pretty much the same these days. I used to eat a lot of ramen back in the day... until I bothered to look on the back of the package. Hooooly crap, there is a lot of sodium in those things.
But that didn't stop Blake and me from visiting the Cup Noodles Museum in Yokohama last weekend.
They have a whole room of ramen packages dating back to when they were first marketed. Here, I'm standing in front of the more recent noodle packages. I do have a picture of Blake, but perspective-wise, the wall looks a lot more impressive with my shortness in front of it.
All the history was interesting. They even have a replica of the cabin-like workshop Ando developed the noodles in, a unique boiling, then frying procedure.
We were really there to design our own Cup of Noodles, though.
We bought empty, styrofoam noodle cups and sat down to decorate them with about a million other people.
Blake's was, of course, precision perfect. He carefully colored in the Cup Noodles logo with black. He used the back to name his cup, "Mystery Flavor." Since you all know me, you get one guess as to what my cup was all about. Christmas. Duh. I hoarded the red and green markers and went to town on that cup. Two Christmas trees, stars, and a cheerful Merry Christmas. Well, it was more like "Meery Christmas." I was so focused on making the letters that I forgot how to spell basic words. No matter. One Japanese woman's cup proclaimed , "I Love Needles." Either she mistook the e's for o's, or she has an unhealthy and very public obsession with pointy things.
We stood in a long line to fill our cups with goodness. The noodles are pre-shaped into cup shapes and the cup is placed upside down over them, then turned upright, to avoid noodles dropping into the cup all wonky and slowing the whole system. Then, they're turned upright.
The best part is picking out the flavors and various dehydrated meats and vegetables.
We got to pick one flavor base and four other ingredients. I got chicken and Blake got seafood. The labels were all in Japanese, but they had pictures by them so you could distinguish that the green bits were green onions, brown was garlic, yellow was corn, pink bits were shrimp, that other pink was pork and that other, other pink was crab.
The cups were sealed, then, the ingenious Japanese had devised a way to safely transport your noodles home. You stuck your cup in the middle of a big plastic sleeve, then inflated it into a big air cushion, like putting the noodles in the middle of one of those cozy fur muffs you see old timey ladies wear when they're caroling with guys in tuxes with mutton chops. Geez that was confusing, but I can't think of a better way to explain it. Loop a string through it for carrying and that puppy wasn't going anywhere.
We happily carried our cups around like noodle-filled purses. I ate mine yesterday and it was very tasty indeed. Blake has yet to eat his. Even though he made it himself, maybe the title of "mystery flavor" is subconsciously off-putting.
Whatever the reason, I don't think the pre-packaged flavors will ever taste the same. Then again, there are entire grocery aisles filled with instant noodles in almost any combination of flavors one could want. Maybe it's time to give instant noodles another try.
