Are you a poor college student? An incompetent cook? Or maybe just too busy to stop for a real meal? If so, you probably have cup ramen so often that you can prep a serving with your eyes closed and your right hand tied to your left knee.
Let’s be honest here: Cup ramen is fast, convenient, and not entirely horrible tasting. But after a couple of days of the same flavors over and over, you might be wanting to add some variety to your diet. If you still can’t get a real meal, at least now you can get some magic powder to spice up your noodles!
Thanks to a new product from Japanese food and seasoning company Ajjigen called “Cup Ramen Becomes Delicious — The Magic Powder, ” you can now transform your boring soup into a mouthful of fun! Hypothetically.
▼ Ajigen building, where the magic is made.
Allegedly, the powder was the result of Ajigen’s company president spending some time on his own. It seems that while his wife was visiting her parents, the lonely husband spent each night eating cup ramen, but soon grew tired of the same flavors. However his misery lead him to a new idea: Someone (namely his company) should create a special seasoning for cup ramen! The story seems a bit difficult to believe, but “we came up with it in a lab” probably wouldn’t sell as well…
▼ Black pepper
Now, you may scoff at the idea of specialty flavoring for instant noodles, but it helps to remember that the cup ramen market in Japan alone is worth about 400 billion yen (roughly 39 billion US dollars) a year, with 3.4 billion meals produced annually. So, surely there’s got to be a few people who are looking for some extra kick for their noodles!
▼ Red pepper
The specialty “cup ramen flavoring powder” was designed to match any ramen flavor and uses a seafood base combined with extra seasoning to enliven your dinner. Right now, you can choose from one of two flavors: Black pepper and red pepper. Of course the question is: Why should you buy these specialty packets instead of just adding some regular black pepper or chili powder to your dinner? We’re not sure yet, but it looks like a package with 20 packets of flavoring will cost 500 yen (about $5). It’s not exactly cheap, but it’s not really expensive either.
So, next time you’re getting sick of eating cup noodles for the twentieth day in a row, why not try some Magic Powder? Hopefully it won’t transform your tongue into a frog…
Sources: My Navi Woman, ITMedia, Ajigen
Images: Amazon, Ajigen
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