Yes, I am alive. Not much to report, though. Details later. First, the important stuff:

Steeped in a New Tradition
Instant ramen noodles are supplanting beans and rice for many in Mexico. Defenders of the nation's cuisine and dietitians are alarmed.
By Marla Dickerson, Times Staff Writer
[excerpts follow]
Purveyors say you don't have to strain your noodle to figure out why. Nearly 60% of Mexico's workforce earns less than $13 a day. Instant ramen is a hot meal that fills stomachs, typically for less than 40 cents a serving. The product doesn't need refrigeration and it's so easy to make that some here call it "sopa para flojos," or "lazy people's soup."
....
Gloria Lopez Morales,an official with Mexico's National Council for Culture and Arts, worries that globalization is disconnecting Mexicans from their very life source, be it U.S. corn displacing ancient strains of maiz or fast food encroaching on the traditional comida, or leisurely afternoon meal
...
Nutritionists likewise are alarmed that instant ramen, a dish loaded with fat, carbohydrates and sodium, has become a cornerstone of the food pyramid.With the majority of the population now urbanized and on the go, Mexicans are embracing the convenience foods of their neighbors in the U.S. while abandoning some healthful traditions. The result is soaring levels of obesity, diabetes and heart disease, particularly among the poor.

My sister, the anthropologist and perhaps aspiring food writer can probably provide an insightful commentary about globalization, syncretism, folkways and things like that, so I'll leave it to her.

I should point out that someone I know has spent most of the last two years in Mexico and has complained about heaviness of the "traditional" diet where she stays--high in fat, low in fiber. A lot of meat and starch, and not enough fruits and vegetables. So perhaps it's not ramen that's to blame, but that the diet has not adapted to modern needs? Or that portion sizes don't reflect current lifestyles? Or perhaps that some aspects of the traditional diet and lifestyle have been maintained while others have been discarded because of inconvenience, compounded by the fact that some foodstuffs that were rare treats in the "traditional" world are now readily available. This is a problem the world over.

However, I do enjoy articles like this, especially the background story on the development of instant ramen in the first place:
Instant ramen has its roots in aching hunger. It was invented by Momofuku Ando, a serial entrepreneur whose businesses crumbled with Japan's defeat in World War II.Memories of shivering Japanese lined up for a bowl of noodles in bombed-out Osaka haunted Ando for years, he wrote in his autobiography, "My Resume: The Story of the Invention of Instant Ramen."Ando, now 95, founded Nissin Food Products Co. in that city, guided by the mantra: "Peace follows from a full stomach." He figured out that frying fresh ramen was the key to preserving the noodle and making it porous, so that it could be reconstituted with boiling water into fast, cheap nourishment.

There are healthier instant ramen products available in the U.S. market (I have some on my shelf at home), but I think they are not as cheap as bad-for-you ramen. If there were a cheap healthy ramen, it would be the world's most perfect food (not counting aesthetics).

Here is the Official Ramen Homepage, lest anyone wonder if there is one: http://mattfischer.com/ramen/

And a quick Google reveals that apparently Tradition Brand Kosher Ramen has only 1g of fat. But they don't seem to have a website.
- posted by k @ 12:13 PM