https://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/06/27/taiwans-latest-sweet-craze-pudding-plus-instant-noodles/
Taiwan's Latest Sweet Craze: Pudding Plus Instant Noodles
Jun 27, 2014 8:00 am HKT
Some foods aren't meant be eaten together. But in Taiwan, that rule doesn't necessarily apply.
The latest craze to sweep the island involves adding sweet caramel flan, or pudding, to pork or other flavored instant noodles.
"You expect the combination to be disgusting, but it is actually quite mind-blowing," said Mani, a 37-year-old novelist and scriptwriter who inspired the trend when he posted his experience on his Facebook a few weeks ago. "Don't knock it until you try it."
During a live demonstration on how to best dissolve the custard-like dessert into the soupy noodles, Mani explained the best ratio is one cup of flan per bowl of instant noodle.
"You must use the entire seasoning packet so the broth won't be too sweet, but you can also add two-thirds of a flan to reduce the sweetness," he said as he carefully dunked the flan into the soup before pouring in the hot water.
"Mmm, it tastes like sweet corn chowder. Delicious," he said, closing his eyes and slurping away at the sweetened noodles.
Writer Mani, who helped spawn the craze, enjoys some instant noodles with pudding.
Jenny W. Hsu for The Wall Street Journal
Since they were invented in 1958 by Momofuku Ando, a Taiwanese immigrant to Japan, instant noodles have become a beloved food item, both in and outside of Taiwan. According to the World Instant Noodles Association, global consumption of these precooked dried noodle blocks jumped 15% from 2008 to 2013 to 105.6 billion packets.
Flan has been popular with Taiwanese children since local food conglomerate Uni-President first introduced the cupped dessert to the market about 30 years ago. Although a spate of food-safety scandals dented sales last year, the company's public relations director, Tu Chung-cheng, said they have now recovered by about 90%.
Mr. Tu stopped short of commenting on whether the latest food fad has helped with the recovery, and emphatically denied that it was a marketing stunt crafted to boost the sales of flan or instant noodles.
But for Mani, who prefers to be called by his pen name, this new quirky concoction is more than just a fad. It's a way to "bring smiles to people's faces" after Taiwan has experienced a series of contentions and disagreements, from massive student-led protests in March to a fatal subway attack in May, he said.
Pudding mixed into instant noodles have become a hit in Taiwan.
"Taiwan has been unhappy and contentious for so long. If the story of eating flan with your instant noodles can give people a break from all this fighting, then I think it's well worth it," he said. "Who knows, maybe there will be new business opportunities for the noodle shops."
Since he published his post, said many people have shared their own recipes with Mani, he said. One Facebook user sent him a picture of cold sesame noodles with flan, saying that mixture of the food "is tasty and refreshing," especially on a hot summer day.
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Similarly, a YouTube video of popular local Internet personality Tsai Ah-Ga trying out condiments such as milk and sweet tofu in his noodles has received more than 1.8 million hits.
Since then, other bizarre instant noodle mix-ins have also surfaced, from canned dog food to ice cream bars and chocolate pies, or combinations like flan with braised pork rice.
But not everyone is impressed with the new hype.
Wang Rui-cheng, who has been a beef noodle vendor in Taipei for more than 10 years, called it "a disgrace to noodles."
"Life is tough and the economy is bad, people should stop disrepecting food like this," he said. "The only winner from this is the drug companies that sell anti-diarrhea medicines."
So far, Mani said, he hasn't had any tummy problems.
-- Jenny W. Hsu. Follow her on Twitter @jen1113
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The latest craze to sweep Taiwan: adding pudding to pork-flavored instant noodles