Few people are heard to complain about food in Taiwan, for in the immense choice there is something to satisfy even the most exacting taste buds. This abundance of riches even applies to something as humble as instant noodles. Walk into any convenience store and there are at least a dozen flavors available. In a supermarket the choice is actually bewildering.
Taiwan, according to statistics from the International Ramen Manufacturers Association, is the world's 12th largest instant noodle market, worth an annual NT$10 billion (US$300 million). This translates into an annual total of 900 million packs, or 40 per person.
Lee Chin-chun, who works as an inventory manager for a supermarket chain, estimates that there are at least a hundred local products on the shelves as well as imports from Japan, Korea and Europe. "Young people are more willing to try foreign flavors, but most people prefer local ones, which accounted for 90 to 95 percent of our sales," he says. "Consumption increases during festivals, since people use instant noodles in religious ceremonies, and of course before typhoons, though there aren't really any clear peak and off-peak seasons."
While flavors have become hugely diversified, packaging is not far behind. The most common is the brightly decorated plastic bag. Since these do not come with chopsticks or bowls, they are somewhat less convenient for customers without access to dining utensils. Then there are products packed in large Styrofoam bowls, offering more noodles, vegetables and meat--a real instant meal. And at the other end of the spectrum, small-volume, biodegradable paper cups target female customers. Plastic-bagged products currently account for half of sales, while cupped and bowled ones share the rest.
Things were much simpler four decades ago, when a small food company in Taipei brought in Japanese know-how and started to market Taiwan's first instant noodles, Shengli Noodles, in 1967. At NT$ 2 (at the time about five US cents) a pack, it was not regarded as a very cheap foodstuff. The first batch was not well received by consumers, but the situation changed after some adjustments to the original Japanese recipe. The eventual success of Shengli Noodles attracted more manufacturers. By the early 1970s, there were already more than 20 instant-noodle manufacturers.
The products, however, stayed simple. They came cellophane-wrapped in few flavors. Many of these old products, including Shengli Noodles, are made no longer, although some have retained their popularity over the years; for example Ve Wong Corp. is still producing the Prince Noodles line it started in 1970.
Some will give imported flavors a try, but most people prefer the taste of home. (Photo by Chang Su-ching)
One reason for the longevity of Prince is that it is more than just noodles. Add boiled water and the flavoring pack containing MSG and dehydrated green onion and it becomes a bowl of noodle soup. Or, it can simply be eaten dry as a crispy snack. There is no knowing who was the first to eat the noodles this way but most fortysomethings can remember how they would crush a pack of Prince and chomp on the crispy fragments raw, without sauces or spices. While good old Prince remains unchanged, in 2003 Ve Wong added more flavors in smaller packs to create the Little Prince Instant Snack Noodles. Little Prince is as popular with primary school children as its big brother ever was, even when there are many more competitors in the snack industry.
Uni-President's Minced Pork Noodles is another all-time favorite. The Uni-President Group also learned instant noodle-making from Japan and marketed Uni-President Noodles in 1970. The line struggled for a year. Then, while on a business lunch in Tainan, the company's general manager found that the restaurant he was in was filled with the wonderful aroma of Tainan-style danzih noodles, and had the idea of making instant noodles which capture this flavor. After several months of research, Uni-President Minced Pork Noodles hit the market in 1971. Wu Kun-lin, manager of Uni-President's food manufacturing subsidiaries, says that the line was Taiwan's first noodle product with an oil-based flavor pack and also the first to advertise on TV. Since then, Uni-President Minced Pork Noodles have been the top seller in Taiwan, and today have an astonishing 18 percent of total market share.
The key to the product's success was its tiny pack of oily pork sauce. Unsurprisingly, other manufactures were quick to follow suit, as well as try a large number of different flavors. In general, "traditional" flavors such as beef, pork and seafood were accepted more easily than some of the more innovatory ones. Were there a prize for misguided innovation, it would probably go to the company that created pizza- flavored instant noodles, almost universally considered revolting.
Other innovations were not so misguided. Take, for example, Wei Lih Men by Wei Lih Food Co., a long-time favorite since its debut in 1978. To distinguish its brand, Wei Lih introduced a "one pack, double enjoyment" approach: a fried-sauce flavoring packet for the noodles and a green-onion and seasoning pack for the soup. The star product helped Wei Lih secure 70 percent of the "dry noodles" market. In fact, the sauce has become so popular that Wei Lih has been selling it separately in cans.
Manufacturers also added dehydrated vegetables and meat to the flavoring packs, but Taiwanese consumers started to demand more. "The economy was taking off and people began to pay more attention to a balanced diet," Wu says. "Instant noodles at that time were little more than flour, oil and seasonings, and were considered a nutritionless, half-decent snack." Responding to consumer demand, Uni-President, with the help of renowned chef Fu Pei-mei (1931-2004), launched Manhan Noodles in 1983. In addition to the original flavoring packs and instead of dehydrated ingredients, the consumers got a soft bag of real food, including juicy meat chunks. At NT$40 to $45 (US$1.20 to $1.30) a bowl, sales of Manhan Noodles reached NT$100 million (US$3 million) within a year. Uni-President has since added several other flavors to the Manhan series, which remains the best seller in the "large-bowl" class of instant noodles.
With competition from other instant meals and fast food, Taiwan's instant noodle market, though big, is unlikely to enjoy further growth. (Photo by Chang Su-ching)
Other producers have also been making an effort to improve nutritional content by adding meat and vegetables that have been sterilized and carefully packed. Nutritionists, on the other hand, recommend that consumers add only half of the flavoring packet to avoid too much salt, eat their noodles with additional cooked vegetables and perhaps an egg, while fresh fruit for dessert provides a valuable vitamin supplement.
There is also a deep-rooted concern that instant noodles contain preservatives. In fact, the Department of Health has prohibited the use of any preservative in instant noodles and their flavoring packets since 1989. Wu explains that the noodle itself has never needed preservatives since it has a water content of only 3 percent--an environment too dry for microbes to grow--and natural antioxidants such as Vitamin E are used to slow down oxidation of the ingredients. "Eating noodles won't make you bald or turn you into a mummy," he says.
Nevertheless there are some legitimate concerns. Cheng Jen-hung, chairman of the Consumers' Foundation, warns that instant noodles manufactured using deep frying contain a lot of trans fats, which as well as being linked to obesity, accumulate in the body and increase the chances of heart diseases and strokes. Wu says that the industry has already been looking into the issue. Uni-President, for example, has launched three flavors of non-fried noodles. "Blown dry with hot air, they have less fat, taste different, and more adequately meet consumer demand for healthier food," he says. "Most people, however, are just too used to the deep-fried variety to try something new." Non-fried noodles currently have only 5 percent of the market, but if Taiwan follows Japan, where they have been sold for a decade, Wu expects another 10 percentage points of growth locally.
Four decades of competition has tended to push out smaller players. While Uni-President controls half the market following the success of Minced Pork Noodles, Wei Lih has 20 percent and Ve Wong, Vedan Enterprises Corp. and Tinghsin International Group share the rest. "With the popularity of other instant meals and fast food, there isn't going to be much growth in Taiwan's instant noodle market," Wu says. "But competition within the industry remains severe." All the manufacturers have been constantly introducing new flavors, packaging and advertising. A few months ago, Uni-President bought a 32-percent stake in Wei Lih to expand its range of dry noodles and help cut manufacturing costs. As well as securing their share of the local market, manufacturers have also been cultivating overseas markets. Uni-President, for instance, will be the sole supplier of instant noodles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
While all the key players have been moving into overseas markets, Master Kong noodles, made by Tinghsin, is a very special case of coming home. The company was originally a cooking-oil manufacturer, set up in 1958 in Taiwan's Changhua County. In 1988 it moved to China and four years later began manufacturing instant noodles there, where Master Kong soon became the most popular brand. Supplying the world's largest instant noodle market, the company has grown to be the world's second largest instant noodle manufacturer, selling 8 billion packs a year. And while selling half of all noodles in China, Master Kong decided to return to Taiwan. Since imports of Chinese instant noodles were not allowed here, Tinghsin bought a factory from a local food group and launched its noodles in 2002. Currently, Master Kong accounts for approximately 10 percent of the Taiwanese market.
Nearly half a century has gone by since the first pack of instant noodles was made. When Momofuku Ando (1910-2007), himself a Taiwanese who spent his adult life in Japan, introduced Chicken Ramen to the Japanese market in 1958, his main goal was to help provide a food source for the Japanese, who were still facing food shortages after World War II. That is no longer an issue the product aims to solve. But on a typhoon day or a long working night, life can become so much easier with a pack of instant noodles--just add hot water and wait for three minutes.
Write to Jim Hwang at jim@mail.gio.gov.tw