Cup Noodles has hit on what may become heralded as the ‘ultimate screenfront snack’. It’s truly new-stalgic without even trying, combining classic Ramen with Chicken Wing flavours. Instant noodles make the leap from everyday to ‘gameday’!
We sent up a flare on this one a while back in Fast Food Week. But I really does merit its own post. The effortless creativity of this product combined with its uber-newstalgicness simply screams for a closer look and a higher profile…
What it is
Simple. It’s three (for a start) versions of classic instant Ramen featuring different classic wing sauce flavours. And it checks all the boxes for an ideal screenfront snack: easy to prepare, easy to eat, satis-fying flavour, tummy-filling mass.
Why is that important, aside from any given diner’s personal pleasure?
The Super Bowl is coming!
… And the National Chicken Council estimates Americans may consume as many as 1.5 billion chicken wings while watching the nation’s biggest pro sports event.
The Cup Noodles launch comes just near enough to the big day to get in on the US national obses-sion with wings-with-sports to potentially affect actual wing sales on Super Bowl Day.
Testing, testing, testing…
The limited-time wing-flavoured ramens come in three classic wing flavours: Spicy Buffalo with Ranch, Lemon Pepper, and Garlic Parmesan.
This may be a test, to see how well the new offerings do under ideal conditions. If they score a touchdown with fans, Cup Noodles may just add them to its roster permanently.
Not trying to replace real wings
Cup noodles isn’t trying to replace real wings, though. Just offer a dignified alternative.
Regular wings, noted food blogger Reach Guinto observes, require, “commitment: Napkins. Coord-ination. And a willingness to accept collateral damage. Ramen, on the other hand, just asks for a fork and a little dignity.”
And at $1.18 a cup, they7 stack up pretty impressivley price-wise against your average real wing. I’ve checked… Unless you can cash in on a really good Super Bowl deal, the average price you’ll pay for the foreseeable future is $1.25 per wing.
My take
Either way… Super Bowl Sunday is February 8. Kickoff is at 6:30 pm. Be there and be hungry!
~ Maggie J.