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 in a variety of flavours 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, curry sauce and others. It is packaged in a plastic cup with a foil lid.
A children's version called Fun pots is 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.
The manufacturers have extended the brand to include an extra-large 'King' Pot Noodle, as well as the "Posh Noodle" and "Hot Noodle" varieties.
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[edit] 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. The brand is now owned by Unilever UK.
The product is manufactured in Crumlin, Wales.
[edit] Public acceptance
Pot Noodle has become a common packaged food in the UK for those who either do not have the time, resources, skills, or patience to cook. The brand is 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 it.
Unilever claims that, in a survey in 2002, 44.6% of 11 to 19 year olds surveyed voted Pot Noodle as their favourite food. [1]
Pot Noodle has also come under fire from many parents and nutritionists who say that it has very little nutritional value. Unilever is now attempting to reduce salt and fat levels, in response to these claims.[2]
[edit] Media and advertising
Early Pot Noodle advertising portrayed it and its sister brands as a convenience food. However, Pot Noodle has since achieved notoriety for some outrageous and sometimes controversial advertising campaigns. They conatin a 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.
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'. One advert also stars Gareth the Pot Noodle sniffing sheep, who finds a Pot Noodle vein during a 'fuel' shortage in Britain and saves many starving people.
- 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.[3].
- Big Dave was written for the 'King Pot Noodle' range, portraying a man and his imaginary friend 'Big Dave', who would share his food (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'. 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.
- 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 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! The 1993 TV commercial featuring Phil Hartman as a newsreader in front of (literally) epileptic fit-inducing graphics, accompanied by Motörhead's Ace of Spades. The original version had to be withdrawn due to the excessive strobe lighting effect.
[edit] 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)
- Chicken and Mushroom with 33% less Salt (Soy Sauce)
- Chinese Chow Mein (Soy Sauce)
- Chinese Sweet and Sour (Mango Chutney)
- Fajita flavour (Salsa Sauce)
- Southern Fried Chicken ("Tangy" Tomato Sauce)
- Original Curry (Mango Chutney)
- Sweet and Spicy - formally "Nice 'n' Spicy" - ("Spicy" Sauce)
- Sizzling Bacon (Tomato Sauce)
These products were either discontinued due to bad sales or were available for a limited time only.
- 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
These Pot Noodles are much larger than the standard variety for "Fat Bloaters"
- King Pot Noodle
- Bombay Bad Boy
- Chicken and Mushroom
- Original Curry
- Pot Noodle Mini
- Chicken and Mushroom
- Beef and Tomato
- Posh Noodle
- Oriental Sweet & Sour
- Spicy Chinese Chicken
- Spicy Chilli
[edit] 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.
[edit] In Popular Culture
Generally speaking, the Pot Noodle is derided in popular culture, described as barely qualifying as food.
In one episode of the British sci-fi comedy series Red Dwarf, the character Dave Lister is stranded in a broken-down shuttle craft with dwindling food supplies. The hologram character Arnold Rimmer advises him that the only edibles left include: a pack of smoky bacon crisps, a tin of water biscuits, a tin of dog food, mint-flavored gum ointment, and a pot noodle.
Lister's reply: "Well, it's pretty obvious what gets eaten last. I can't stand pot noodles".
In a later episode, the party discover a "matter transmogrifier". Lister remarks that it can "take a pot noodle and turn it into food".
In an episode of Have I Got News For You, one of its adverts was featured as a news story, and the panel and presenter spent several minutes coming up with humorous names for pot noodles.
One such colloquialism is "snot poodle"
[edit] See also
- Cup Noodle
- Super Noodles
- Pot Rice
- Pot Casserole
- Pot Pasta
- Pot Mash
