You’d think that after possible nuclear meltdown, a heat wave, minor tsunami, and regular Godzilla attacks, people would be tired of canned disaster food. Problem is, people can’t get enough of it.
Fujitaka, a Kyoto-based vending machine manufacturer came up with the idea of serving people ramen out of the can. The Japanese people can’t stop making things better. First they took American VCRs and turned them into transformers; now they are taking those old-fashioned, third-world country Styrofoam ‘Cup Noodles’ and turning them canned and futuristic. That’s right, no water necessary. All your cans are belong to us. It’s the perfect still lives with mom 40 year old’s disaster relief food.
The trick, according to Mainichi News, is using konnyaku to make the noodles. This way, the noodles don’t get soggy and you can enjoy your not-soggy ramen under a pile of rubble after that earthquake hits (without a hotpot!). According to the picture above, you can even get them out of the vending machine hot! This has made them so popular that the company is barely able to keep up with demand. Now that’s ridiculous.
The story behind this ramen gets a bit stranger:
Yu Yamada got the idea for marketing canned ramen after serving as a volunteer in the wake of the 2004 Niigata earthquake, when he took cans of noodles to those forced to live in evacuation areas following the temblor.
“It was surprising to see how delighted everybody was by the noodles. I just couldn’t forget the joyous looks on people’s faces,” Yamada tells Sunday Mainichi.
The question burning on everyone’s mind here is “when will I see these cans here in the States/Europe/wherever?” I personally have no idea. If you’ve seen canned ramen around shoot a comment and let us know where you got it (internet is okay, too, I guess). I imagine we won’t be seeing ready-to-eat ramen until Fujitaka gets their supply problems figured out. Until then, you’ll have to stick with your Styrofoam cups and boiling water. What a tough life you have.