I can't explain why, exactly -- I'd never even had Asian food before. I did like Campbell's chicken noodle soup, but always thought the noodles were too short and there weren't enough of them -- a problem clearly solved by the ramen in the product shot. Maybe the twirly noodles looked like fun. Or maybe I just intuitively recognized a food soulmate calling out to me. Not ramen specifically, but Asian noodle soups in general -- pho and udon and tom ka gai and other things I don't even know the names of.

Of course, Top Ramen itself, while cheap and delicious, isn't terribly good for you -- the noodles are fried in palm oil and the flavor packets are intensely sodium-i-fied, including lots of monosodium glutamate. Unfortunately, baked ramen noodles tend to be hard to find and expensive -- one or even two dollars a package, instead of ten to twenty-five cents as God intended. Campbell briefly made a mass-market baked ramen which retailed for about fifty cents, which was a reasonable compromise. As far as I can tell the company no longer makes it. Stupid Campbell. Thai Kitchen makes instant rice noodle soups that are a pretty good no msg alternative that retail for around a dollar, but they are a flat rice stick type of noodle, so it's not the same.

Anyway, there are lots of things that you can do to make a bowl of ramen seem like actual food. You can add frozen vegetables and tofu, or use miso paste for the broth, or add lots and lots of water to offset the headache-inducing effects of the msg. (I'm assuming here that too much msg gives everyone headaches. I could be wrong about that.)

Paul and I once had a discussion about food which caused me to realize that I am alone in the household in my love of Asian soup. No, Paul doesn't really really wish he weren't allergic to onions so he could eat pho. He doesn't eat ramen unless there is LITERALLY nothing else available. He doesn't particularly want udon, he doesn't like miso soup, he only occasionally wants tom ka gai, and anyway he'd rather have red curry or holy basil dish if we're already eating Thai food. He likes Chinese style hot and sour soup, but not, you know, EVERY DAY.

Weird!

When I was working and eating lunch at home, I decided to try out the full variety of noodle soup options available at the Asian foods market. I bought rice sticks, wide rice sticks, udon, soba, bean threads, and tapioca sticks. I had no idea what tapioca sticks taste like -- I just wanted to try them. Is it starchy? Can you make it into a noodle? Well, okay then!
Note: it turned out that when I tried to cook the tapioca sticks, I must have had the temperature or the timing wrong, because they turned into a gluey, yet crunchy, mush. And in case you're wondering how you can ever go wrong with noodles, that's how.
Well, that's what happens when you cook things you've never made before that have no English instructions on the package. C'est la nouille!

I also got some bouillon for making pho ga (chicken) which has MSG, but then, so does most bouillon. This turned out to be pretty good, though nowhere near as good as what you get at an actual restaurant. I also got a packet of Filipino tamarind soup that turned out to be pretty delicious. I also bought a bunch of different kinds of dried mushrooms and seaweed, and some coconut milk, and some masuman curry paste from Mae Ploy. (Mae Ploy is far and away my favorite brand of Thai curry paste. It tastes the best. It stores the best. It is MSG-free. And the green curry has no onions!)

But, as much as I love the rice sticks, and the buckwheat soba, and the udon, I have to confess -- I still love the ramen most of all.