The whole Maggie Noodles debacle and it's ceremonious comeback in India, reminds me of an incident which happened during my school days. It feels like it happened eons ago. (Btw, I guess this is a good time to sneak in something else here). Though I said my school days felt like eons ago, I'm not that old, I'm an 80's child, so I like it better when you call me or address me as just Maria, without any suffix or prefix, got the hint?? ;)
Ok, back to the incident. I think it happened when we were in the 8th or 9th grade. One sleepy afternoon, while battling to make the biggest decision of all time – whether to keep our eyes open or not, we were suddenly shaken with a flurry of activity in the lengthy corridor outside our classroom. While we were trying to figure out what was happening, in spite of the ongoing class, some guys walked into our room and started distributing Maggie Noodles! We were really surprised and as you can imagine our sleepy classroom soon turned out to be wildly active with this free gift of Maggie Noodles.
Turned out to be a great day for all of us, except one!
The very next day one of our classmate's father came to school with the Maggie Noodles packet. Well, he was there to complain to the school authorities. He wanted to know why the school agreed to distribute such “unhealthy” (I'm not sure the term “junk food” made it's presence known at that time) food items to kids. He thought it was a bad move to influence school kids towards unhealthy eating habits.
I don’t remember what our classmate's reaction was, whether she was embarrassed since her father was the only parent to complain or whether she was sad since she couldn't eat the Maggie Noodles while the rest of us had – I do remember one thing… we were all feeling so bad for her as she couldn't eat the “yummy” Maggie Noodles!
Now, when I think about it today, I kinda lean towards in favor of my friend's father. It's one thing to advertise to kids, but it's a whole different thing to do such a promotion at school. But, then again I'm not sure whether I'll take so much effort, like going back to school and complain.
Since my scenario is pretty much hypothetical, let me ask you… What do you think about the whole situation? How will you react if it takes place at your kid's school? Will you be ok with it or will you be like my classmate's father? I'd love to know, share your thoughts below…
Irrespective of whether noodles is good or bad, am sure most of us give in to the temptation once in awhile. But this recipe is not about instant noodles. It's about plain noodles, which you can dress up anyway you like. I always stock up on some kind of noodles or the other, be it egg, whole wheat, hakka noodles etc; It always comes handy for a lazy day or when you are in a hurry. If you use a good combination of flavours, you will not miss the artificial flavour packet of instant noodles, trust me.
I usually make this Veg Hakka Noodles, but wanted to try something different for a change and ended up with this one. If you like mild curry flavour, you will like this. Like any other noodle recipe, it's super quick and easy and it's free of artificial flavouring :)