Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Big no no for Nongshim, South Korea’s ramen giant. Their instant ramen produced in factories in China, and distributed through a massive – nearly global – network is under a recall for their products containing dangerous levels of benzopyrene, a carcinogen also found in coal tar and cigarettes. The benzopyrene is in the soup flavor packets included in bowl and packet ramen, maybe to give it that carbon-rific, smokey flavor… There’s a massive recall being called for all across Asia, but it’s moving very slowly. There are 6 products that have been identified as containing “dangerous” levels of benzopyrene, including some of the most popular products from the brand. The FDA in Manila are trying to clear shelves of the toxic ramen. In Mongolia there are nightly news reports about the ramen and published lists of the particular products targeted for the recall. Vietnamese retailers are pulling Nongshim products from their shelves with the support of local product safety authorities, who are also on the look out for suspicious bras from China with possibly toxic liquid fillings. Hmmm… The Korean Food and Drug Administration, as well as Nongshim are trying to respond to the backlash stating that the amounts of benzopyrene in the soup are minimal. My instincts tell me that if a Chinese watchdog group found the toxic ingredient, we should all probably pay attention. If there’s enough carcinogen present to raise a red flag for them, well… it’s time to toss the spicy ramen. What a bummer for South Korean pop stars who promote the popular instant food. Nongshim’s newest spokesperson is the worldwide sensation, PSY. He just joined the Nongshim family to help promote their newer “Black Cup” Shin Ramyun. Good thing for PSY, he can afford to skip the instant ramen and get the good stuff in Gangnam-gu.
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I share a bittersweet moment with you all… the preparation and consumption of my last bowl of instant ttuk guk. It was a precious moment, and good things are always even better when shared. This is the object of my obsession, Ottogi’s instant rice cake soup, or Ssal Ttuk Guk. Ottogi is the maker of many fine instant foods, but this has to be their best. The have lofty goals to make delicious, healthy and easy to make food. One of their mottos is “Ottogi fills ALIVE TASTE and Nutrition of nature to all products”. They create classic instant food products that try to recreate Korean comfort food, like burnt rice crusts, and ttukbokki (spicy rice cake) flavored ramen. They make weird trendy food too. Pizza flavored rice cakes? No thank you. I don’t care about any of that though, I just want this. Every day. All day long. In an unlimited supply. I found these on the cup noodle shelf at the Apollo Market – the neighborhood market just across the parking lot from my first apartment here in Darkhan. It’s a popular market because they stock a good variety of products, everything is clearly priced, the staff if friendly, and with the Russian embassy across the street, they try to stock “international” foods. Korean food is popular in Mongolia. Korean restaurants are everywhere, and you can find Korean products on even the tiniest country mini-market’s shelves. This though… this precious food, I had never seen before, and on instinct, I bought 4 of them that day. I spent the better part of my young/ not-so-young adult life as a strict vegan. Mongolia makes that a daily challenge. If I lived in Ulaanbaatar, I’d have access to all kinds of food in grocery stores, and vegan friendly cuisine at dozens of restaurants around the city, but I live in Darkhan. That means everything available here is what grows (or grazes) around here, and what comes in from distributors in Ulaanbaatar. In the winter, much of the produce selection disappears, and you want to eat seasonally to avoid Chinese produce that is over priced and chock full of chemical preservatives. I try to eliminate as much meat and dairy as possible from my daily diet, but as soon as I settled here I caved on Korean comfort foods. These are foods that I would make vegan versions of at home, and rarely ever found vegan versions of outside of veggie/vegan Korean restaurants in Seoul. Ttuk guk is a childhood favorite. With fresh rice cakes, it’s melt in your mouth delicious. Totally filling. It makes you feel like you’re being hugged by a polar bear wearing an electric blanket, and that polar bear just wants you and your tummy to be happy and full for forever.The soup usually comes with some ground or sliced beef in it, and the soup is a beef based broth, so this is one of those comforts I gave up over 17 years ago. The beauty...
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