Cutting the Chai has moved to a new domain: cuttingthechai.com.
You can get in touch with Soumyadip at www.soumyadip.com.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Maggi Noodles: The Two-Minute Wonder

"Mummy bhook laagi (Mummy I'm hungry)," cries the kid. "Bus do minute (Just two minutes)," assures the loving mom. My mother never preferred Maggi, she would rather prepare some chow-chow (not to be confused with the Chinese breed of dog or the American condiment), that is what we referred to as in Shillong what the rest of India calls chow mein.

But beyond home, this five-lettered instant noodle brand has become a trustworthy companion, for breakfast, lunch and dinner (and occasionally in-between). Don't feel like cooking and end of the month budgetary constraints disallow eating out, it is always Maggi to the rescue. Every month I consume dozens of packets of this two-minutes wonder and so do millions of others like me.

There have been at different points of time, different competitors who attempted to replace Maggi from my breakfast/lunch/dinner bowl, but have, in the long run, failed to do so. Worthy competitors were Top Ramen and Wai Wai. They are good for the occasional change in taste but it is Maggi that remains staple. And I've devised some alternative recipes to add some variety to my platter.

Though Maggi advertising (see ad at the end of this post) tends to target kids, a survey would reveal that a considerable slice of Maggi noodles' consumers are single men and women. The pricing and the variety in tastes are the added advantages. Though I personally stick to the two traditional flavours - chicken and masala - and prefer to purchase my monthly quota in bulk. Only that my neighbourhood grocery store doesn't store anything more than a pack of eight.

Even the dhaba near my office prepares delicious Maggi, thereby providing me with more options for lunch - parathas or Maggi and nowadays it is more Maggi than parathas. Though technically, the entire procedure of preparing a steaming hot bowl of Maggi noodles takes some multiples of that promised two minutes. Not that I'm complaining. But people who come visiting me and stay for a week or more, swear themselves off Maggi - at least for some time.

The only thing that I miss about the Maggi from my growing-up days is that they no longer give gifts in exchange of empty Maggi packs, else I would have had quite a collection by now. And I have another request for the guys at Nestle, please sell the chicken Maggi tastemaker loose, ie without having to purchase the noodle with it. It does make for one relishing lick.

Maggi TVC:


To share/embed this video click here
Download video [00:00:33 FLV 893 KB]

9 Comments:

Anonymous said...

This is some good stuff I read since some time, that I can relate too. Keep it up!

Vinayak Razdan said...

Maggi nahi hota to kya hota!

Somewhere in the late 90s the market was flooded with yucky Dhaniya Maggi, dear Masala was nowhere to be found. All the maggi noodle flavors, including the Chicken had Dhaniya. That year, country’s whole production of Dhaniya went into the Maggi packets. They launched Macaroni and even that had Dhaniya.
That year, Maggi mere liya nahi tha.
But, then they came back to their senses and the teeming hungry nation was saved.The Masala was back.

Soumyadip said...

Bharat: So many of us relate to Maggi. But when I was looking for some vintage Maggi ads to accompany this post, I could hardly find any.

Vinayak: Maggi nahin hota to hume bhooka hi sona padta.

It might just be because that the then Nestle India chief had a coriander fixation. Even the chicken flavour had lost its flavour for some time and hasn't yet regained the taste from my growing up days.

dwaipayan said...

"But people who come visiting me and stay for a week or more, swear themselves off Maggi - at least for some time."


I know........

Unknown said...

hey thats a wonderful story..i was going through the Maggi fansite, www.meandmeri.in, and i saw soo many stories there..maybe you should share yours soo that other Maggi lovers can read it and relate to it.

Unknown said...

hey really nice maggi moment..you should consider posting it on the maggi fansite, www.meandmeri.in.

Unknown said...

hey guys just checked out www.meandmeri.in its really a wonderful site for maggie lovers! check it out

Unknown said...

True Maggie lover
want maggie ringtone do help me out
(latest maggie ad (maggie lover))

nats said...

thts absolutely true..maggi fixation ll continue for generations to come!!