Pot Noodle
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In the UK, Pot Noodle is a specific brand of cup noodles (ramen-style snack). It consists of a dehydrated mixture of wide noodles, textured soya pieces, and vegetables, available impregnated with a variety of seasoning powders (see below) and accompanied by a sachet of sauce which can be added to taste. Different sauce sachets are included according to the flavour of the Pot Noodle, and include soy sauce, tomato ketchup and curry sauce. It is packaged in a plastic cup with a foil lid.
A children's version 'Fun Pots' are also available. They are similar to standard Pot Noodle, but are smaller, contain no flavour sachet and have crushed noodle pieces. There are also 'Mini Pot Noodles' available, which are exactly like Fun Pots save that they contain the sauce sachet.
After many years of success, the manufacturers have extended the brand to include an extra-large 'King' Pot Noodle, as well as the Posh Noodle and Hot Noodle varieties.
History
The idea for the Pot Noodle brand was developed by Golden Wonder in Japan and launched in the UK in 1979. It was one of four sister brands that were advertised together, the others being the now-defunct Pot Rice and Pot Casserole, and later Pot Sweet. Through a series of acquisitions, the brand is now owned by Unilever UK.The product is manufactured in Crumlin, Wales.
Public acceptance
Pot Noodle has become a national favourite in the UK for those who either do not have the time, resources, skills, or patience to cook more complex foods.Pot Noodle has become a particular favourite of University/College students to such an extent that many people stereotype students in the UK as having a staple diet of said snack.
In a survey in 2002 44.6% of 11 to 19 year olds surveyed voted Pot Noodle as their favourite food.
Pot Noodle has also come under fire from many parents and nutritionists who say that the Pot Noodles have very little nutritional value. Unilever is now countering this with a large rebranding campaign featuring a new product logo, reduced salt and fat levels, more vegetables and removal of artificial colours and preservatives. This, it is hoped will help reinvent Pot Noodle as a snack for all consumers instead of its core 18-24 year old Male market.[link]
Preparation
The preparation of Pot Noodle is extremely simple (adding much to the snack's appeal), although many consider the correct preparation of Pot Noodle an art.The outer foil seal of the Pot Noodle container is removed, and the sauce sachet is removed for later use. Boiling water is added up to the 'fill line' printed on the container. The noodles are then left to stand for two minutes. After this, the noodles are then stirred and again left to stand for two minutes. Finally, the sauce is added and the noodles are stirred again. Following this it is best left to cool for a while as the water will still be very hot.
A variant on the standard method of Pot Noodle preparation is to pour less water than recommended into the pot, for subsequent use as the topping in Pot Noodle on Toast.
A crushed up packet of crisps tipped inside the pot noodle is also popular for many pot noodle eaters.
Media and advertising
Early Pot Noodle advertising portrayed Pot Noodle and its sister brands as a straightforward convenience food. However, Pot Noodle has since achieved notoriety for some outrageous advertising campaigns (several of which have landed it in trouble). The adverts bear a quintessentially British sense of humour, and often make allusion to the consumer feeling dirty or improper for spurning traditional food in favour of something completely manufactured and artificial (but ultimately irrestistible).Recent advertising campaigns include:
- Pot Noodle Mines As part of a rebranding process, the latest set of adverts revolve around the fictional "Pot Noodle Mine" in a small Welsh village called Crumlin (where Pot Noodle is actually produced). We see various miners (all with thick Welsh accents) extracting dry Pot Noodle in large hunks from underground, and singing in Welsh male voice choirs when on the surface. The strapline is 'Fuel of Britain, isn’t it'.
- Pot Noodle Horn The 'Pot Noodle Horn' is the urge for Pot Noodle. This is shown from a large horn emerging from underneath a persons trousers, giving the impression of an erection. The campaign was accompanied by a token-collect promotion in which four coupons could be collected from special packs, and exchanged for one of 1 million Pot Noodle horns. Unfortunately, these horns were unable to emulate the "Horn Noise" represented therein. In April 2006, the advert was included in a list of the most complained about television adverts in the United Kingdom by the ASA, as reported by the BBC. . [View the Pot Noodle Horn advert].
- Big Dave Advertising campaign for the 'King Pot Noodle' range, portraying a man and his imaginary friend 'Big Dave', who would share his noodle (so as not to make him seem "a fat bloater").
- The Slag Of All Snacks portrayed Pot Noodle as a snack which could only be purchashed from seedy outlets. A man attempts to purchase Pot Noodle from various said outlets with little success, resulting in being slapped by many of the shop attendants. The shops in which Pot Noodle can be purchased show Pot Noodle as a taboo. The advertisement was moved to be broadcast after 9pm after early complaints, but still attracted 300 complaints and was found to be offensive by the regulator, the Independent Television Commission, which said that the word slag was unsuitable to be broadcast in an ad at any time.
- Not Poodle For a limited period, Pot Noodle was renamed to 'Not Poodle' (ostensibly because it's not a poodle). The adverts parodied the contemporary campaigns of many No Win No Fee legal companies, and featured the fictitious stories of claimants who were 'damaged' by finding a poodle in their 'defective' Pot Noodle; the presenter invited viewers who had also found a poodle in their Pot Noodle to call in, and instruct his company to 'take them to the cleaners'. This was part of a real promotion: anyone lucky enough to find a small model of a poodle in his or her 'Not Poodle' could claim a prize.
- Lambshank Redemption (a play on The Shawshank Redemption) first viewed in 1998 told the story of a prisoner who was punished after smuggling Pot Noodle into prison. It had the slogan "Pot Noodles taste spanking gorgeous".
- Too Gorgeous Shown mid 1990's, Welsh comedian Peter Baynham of The Friday Night Armistice and Fist of Fun fame was the sole advertiser of Pot Noodle. His catchphrase that they were "Too Gorgeous" was pronounced in a comedic Welsh accent and became a playground favourite. Sardonic comedian and former colleague Stewart Lee still to this day encourages people to shout "Too Gorgeous" at Peter Baynham whenever they see him in the street.
- On The Radio HHCL/Red Cell created a series of radio ads for Pot Noodle in which different voices were heard reading out instructions on how to prepare it. The straplines for the ads were saucy: "Pot Noodle. The curious cheerleader of all snacks;" "Pot Noodle. The lonely housewife of all snacks;" and a last advertisement, featuring a man and a woman with German accents, describing the food as the "filthy fräulein of all snacks." As the voices spoke, they became more and more excited, culminating in shrieks of "stir again, stir again". They were found to be in breach of the advertising codes by the Advertising Standards Authority, because they were unsuitable material broadcast at a time when children would be listening. There had been four complaints.
- Stay Hungry! A mid/late eighties TV commercial featuring Phil Hartman as a newsreader in front of (literally) epileptic fit-inducing graphics, accompanied by Motorhead's Ace Of Spades. The original version had to be withdrawn due to the excessive strobe lighting effect.
Red Dwarf
Pot Noodles are considered by some (such as Red Dwarf character Dave Lister) not to qualify as a foodstuff; in an episode where Lister finds himself marooned on an arctic moon with Rimmer, he has with him only a small amount of food-- including a Pot Noodle and a tin of dog food. He remarks that he knows what's going to be eaten last: he can't stand Pot Noodle.
In the fifth-season episode "Demons and Angels," when Dave finds himself aboard an "ideal" version of Red Dwarf, he orders a Pot Noodle as the ultimate test of the ship's catering system. He finds it to be surprisingly good.
Miscellaneous
- In June, 2006 in an episode of the BBC's Have I got news for you several minutes was spent making up jokes about Pot Noodle involving humorously renaming the brand (similar to Pot Noodles' "Not Poodle" marketing campaign).
- Pot Noodles were also the subject of a spoof advert by UK satirical magazine Viz, in which a product called 'Not Foodle' (because it's not food) was advertised.
- In a scene from the British sitcom The Young Ones, British comic Alexei Sayle attempts to ingest a Pot Noodle by snorting it.
- On the Live shopping channel bid tv, presenter Andy Hodgson often blames any mistakes that occur on off-screen character Bob The Warehouse concentrating too much on enjoying a Bombay Bad Boy instead of doing his job properly.
- In 1997, Noel Gallagher of Oasis spoke about his brother and bandmate, Liam, "I love our kid. Just not as much as I love pot noodles."
Available products
The currently available products (and the sauce they contain) are listed below:- Pot Noodle
- *Beef and Tomato (Tomato Sauce)
- *Bombay Bad Boy (Hot Chilli Sauce)
- *Chicken and Mushroom (Soy Sauce)
- *Chow Mein (Soy Sauce)
- *Hot Chicken Curry (Curry Sauce)
- *Seedy Sanchez (Mexican fajita flavour) (Salsa Sauce)
- *Southern Fried Chicken ("Tangy" Tomato Sauce)
- *Spicy Curry (Mango Chutney)
- *Sweet and Sour (Mango Chutney)
- *Sweet 'n' Spicy - formally "Nice 'n' Spicy" - ("Spicy" Sauce)
- *The Sizzler (bacon flavour) (Tomato Sauce)
- Discontinued Pot Noodle varieties
- *Cheese and Tomato
- *Sausage and Tomato
- *Pizza
- *Spaghetti Bolognese, which contained spaghetti instead of Oriental noodles
- *Edwina Curry, Limited edition flavour inspired by the John Major and Edwina Currie scandal
- *Turkey and Stuffing, Limited edition Christmas flavour
- King Pot Noodle
- *Beef and Tomato
- *Bombay Bad Boy
- *Chicken and Mushroom
- *Chow Mein
- *Spicy Curry
- *Sweet and Sour
- Pot Noodle Fun Pots
- *Chicken and Mushroom
- Posh Noodle
- *Oriental Sweet & Sour
- *Spicy Chinese Chicken
- *Spicy Chilli
Pot Sweet
Pot Sweet was a short-lived and little-remembered addition to the Pot Noodle family of products. It comprised a plastic pot filled with dried fruit compote, dehydrated fruit pieces and sugar, and came with a sachet of biscuit crumbs. It came in apple, blackberry, apricot, and peach varieties.Boiling water would be added to the dried fruit and the crumble mixture scattered over the top in order to make a dessert resembling blackberry and apple crumble.
See also
External links
- [Pot Noodle official website]
- [Information about the brand from Unilever]
- [H2G2 from the BBC: Pot Noodle]
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