Monday, February 5, 2007

Chow mein warning

I had a package of Nissin Chow Mein for lunch. Thai Peanut flavor, thanks for asking.

This isn't real chow mein. It's nothing but a tray of ramen noodles with three packets. One has peanut-crumb-flavored floor sweepings. One has "flavoring." One has a VO-5 hot oil treatment.

The directions on the shrink wrap are different from the directions on the peel-back lid.

The package says "plenty of vegetables" and shows a steaming noodle heap with sliced green onions and cilantro. None of those made an appearance in today's lunch. No sliced green onions. No cilantro. No plenty of vegetables.

I dutifully ate my "chow" "mein", then disposed the tray of properly. And now my office stinks of peanut-crumb-flavored floor sweepings. It's that typical indeterminate aroma that food manufacturers often call "Oriental flavoring," and it's wafting all over my 8x8 space. NISSIN CHOW MEIN REEKS.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for contributing to our trade deficit with the Far East, JOSH.

Anonymous said...

as far as 'ramen' goes, i thought the thai peanut (flavor) "chow mein" was pretty good. it had the right amount of spice, it was tangy, i could have used more crushed peanuts...but overall, compared to beef flavored or chicken flavored boring "top ramen", it was a step-up. my cubicle doesn't smell like my lunch....what kind of air-flow does your office get, anyway?