Friday, June 05, 2015

Why The Maggi Affair has angered and enthralled India...

Hitting the headlines of every Indian daily, for a few days now has been – no, you could never have guessed, L’Affaire Maggi. After samples of Maggi noodles, manufactured in March 2014, were found to contain unacceptably high levels of lead and monosodium glutamate (MSG), the instant noodles brand has come under scrutiny by various state governments.

The iconic Maggi noodles brand is a huge favourite with middle-class Indian kids, their parents and grandparents. Bollywood’s reigning film stars have been urging families to eat Maggi, pushing it as cool, delicious, nutritious and healthy. The doting designer mums who produce this two-minute magic meal are impeccably clad and glamorous, the ultimate modern women who emerge from their perfect designer kitchens with not a hair out of place. No sweaty, harried, hot and bothered women here. The perfect mum produces the perfect meal, instantly, with élan. More ordinary, normal women are persuaded that this is the ideal. A two-minute magic meal. Kids are ecstatic. The mums have an easy way out of the kitchen.

Mian, mien or mein covers a multitude of Chinese noodles. It has been shortened to ‘mee’ in Singapore and Malaysia. A confession: I’ve used Maggi myself, years ago, when in a hurry, because my kids loved it. I would always add meat and vegetables, ‘messing up’ the perfect ‘mee’ to make it a tad healthier. Maggi mee has even appeared in restaurants, and is popular all over Southeast Asia. It is tasty and addictive. The MSG – dubbed taste enhancer on many product labels – ensures that. But how did the great exposé happen? I wondered. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Maggi withdraws all noodles in India after state bans and lead scare...
  2. Instant noodle sales top 100 billion a year...
  3. Teen munches 30 miles of noodles each year because ...
  4. Panchayat leader in India blames chowmein for rapes! WTF!
  5. How to eat noodles! (This makes me hungry!!)
  6. North Korea invents noodle that slows down hunger!!!

No comments:

Post a Comment