Text interpretation activity, proposed to students in the seventh or eighth year of education fundamental, with questions about the text “The noodle saga” and also proposes group work, seminar and surveys.
This Portuguese activity is available for download in an editable Word template, ready to print in PDF and also the answered activity.
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Learn how World War II, a business genius and an economic miracle gave birth to noodles. And understand the health risks that ramen blocks pose.
Anyone who has never taken noodles on a trip should throw the first sachet of seasoning.(…) A product about to turn 60 years of age, and who like few others embodies the good and the bad sides of food. Modern.
Like the UN, the European Union and the adoption of the dollar as a global currency, noodles are a baby from World War II. The idea of producing blocks of curly noodles, after all, arose in a Japan in ruins: 3 million dead, economy shattered, industry faltering, agricultural production in free fall. Hunger. In this vilified country, a certain Momofuku Ando was trying to rebuild his life. He was 38 years old and had a bankrupt back – the weaving he maintained in Osaka could not withstand the post-war crisis. Now, in 1948, Momofuku was selling salt to survive the lean cows.(…) Smart, he spotted an opportunity.
Next: one of the most common foods in Japan, along with rice, is ramen – a fresh noodle, served in the form of a stew. With agriculture in decline, the Ministry of Health started to promote the replacement of ramen for bread, made with wheat flour that the US donated. The Ministry justified the initiative saying that the production of ramen was sparse and amateurish. In other words: it would be wasteful to send American flour to these micro-producers. It was more business to produce bread on a large scale, in a more centralized way, and distribute it throughout the country – not least because bread is a less perishable food than fresh pasta. But it needed to match the population: bread was never a popular food in Japanese lands. Momofuku then figured that if he could make ramen as easy to distribute as bread, he would discover the philosopher's stone of the food industry.
He went further, and decided to make a pre-cooked version of the food. He then created a method of dehydration by rapid frying in fat that would kill two rabbits at once: remove the water from the noodles and speed up the way in which the wires are prepared when they reach the homes of the consumers. By 1958 his dehydrated noodles were finally ready to hit the shelves and save Japan from starvation. There was only one problem: there was no more hunger.
Japan has been experiencing an economic miracle since 1955, with its GDP growing at rates equivalent to what China would exhibit at the beginning of the 21st century. When it arrived at the stores, then, each pre-cooked block of ramen from Mr. Ando was more expensive than fresh noodles. In this, dehydrated ramen debuted costing 36 yen, six times more than fresh noodles.(…)
For one thing: lack of food might no longer be the problem for Japanese people. But there was another deprivation now: lack of time.
With the country booming, it was not uncommon for workers to have just 20 minutes for lunch. Instant ramen, ready to eat in just three minutes, was the perfect match for timed meals. Ando had already thought about it(…) and by then he knew that the country needed more fast food than cheap food.
Instant ramen debuted with a Spartan name: “Chikin Ramen”. Is that “chicken” in Japanese is really “chikin” – a word that comes straight from the English.(…) For the company that would produce the pasta Instantly, Ando chose another name: “Nissin”, a word that exists in both Hebrew and Hindi, and which means "miracle". And that's more or less what happened with your Nissin Food Products. In two years, Momofuku Ando has taken its semi-craft production of noodles to a fully-fledged assembly line. automated in a 15 thousand square meter factory, with the capacity to produce 100 thousand blocks of pre-fried ramen per day.
In this vein, Nissin became one of the biggest advertisers in Japan, making use of a new media that was gaining popularity in the country: television.(…) As there is no fool in the food industry, Momofuku's idea was soon copied by other companies in the Japan branch out. Among them, a certain Myojo Foods, which has existed as a pasta maker since 1950. Who launched instant noodles in our lands was a Chinese businessman.
In 1965, he started producing the thing around here. When it came to creating a brand for his product, he was inspired by Ando's competitor,(…) instant noodles arrived on our shelves under the name Miojo Macamen.
As there were still 40 years before the invasion of Japanese restaurants in our cities, Brazilians had no idea what ramen was, so the description on the packaging threw it everywhere. It said “instant vitamin spaghetti like yakissoba with chicken flavored seasoning”.(…) The seasoning bags, at the time, were made by Japanese Ajinomoto. Until the company decided to become the owner of the entire package: in 1972, it became a partner at Miojo. Three years later, Nissin herself arrived in Brazil. (...) Through crooked ways, our noodles reached the arms of the father of instant noodles, Momofuku Ando, who would only die in 2007, at the age of 96.
(…) And today the company that invented instant noodles accounts for half of sales in Brazil. The other 50% are left with Nestlé, Vigor and several other competitors, all fighting for a market that consumes 2.3 billion servings of instant noodles per year (including Cup Noodles and the like, plus recent).
It's really good noodles: this makes Brazil the second largest consumer of slop outside of Asia, only behind the USA, which consume 4.3 billion. Worldwide, annual sales are in the range of 100 billion packages and cups – 3,100 servings per second. China, which in addition to being a fan of ramen has hundreds of millions of workers without time (or money), is the leader: it accounts for 40% of global demand. But the champions in per capita consumption are not them, but the South Koreans, who devour an absurd 69 instant meals a year – beautiful for the makers of the thing, terrible for them.
Sodium Pumps
This level of consumption, according to a study by the Harvard School of Public Health, has increased the rates of diabetes, obesity and heart problems in South Korea. One agent behind this might be the amount of saturated fat in each packet. The consensus is that the maximum consumption of this type of (…) is around 20 grams. A typical pack of instant noodles is 7 grams. But the problem with instant noodles is different: it is a sodium bomb. Each package, counting the seasoning bag, has 1.6 grams of this executioner's heart. That's 33 cans of zero soda — or 100 cans of regular soda, since zero has three times as much sodium. Note that the maximum dose of sodium recommended by the World Health Organization is 2 grams per day. In a survey carried out by Anvisa in 2012, instant noodles only did not have more sodium per cubic centimeter than pure parmesan.
But OK. You can continue to enjoy Mr. Ando's invention, of course. Just don't overdo it. And when you go camping, give the regular noodles a chance too. In ten minutes it is ready.
www.super.abril.com.br – Superinteressante Magazine.
01) Explain in your words how noodles have the good and the bad sides of modern food?
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02) Why, according to the text, the ramen is a baby from the 2nd World War? Explain the reasons that led Momofuku to make noodles.
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03) According to the text, “Momofuku started to sell salt to survive the lean cows”.(…) Smart, he detected an opportunity. What was this opportunity he spotted?
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04) What is ramen according to the text?
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05) Explain the trajectory of the names given to noodles throughout history.
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06) Explain what is the importance of this pasta for the world economy?
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07) In view of the evils caused by the excessive consumption of instant noodles, what is the magazine's team's advice to consumers?
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08) Do you consume noodles very often? Which flavor is your favorite? Have you ever created a different recipe with this type of pasta? Comment.
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09) After reading the text, what will be your attitude towards the consumption of this food? Comment.
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10) Group work- Research- seminar.
Each group must make a list of the foods most consumed by the members. Then, they will have to carry out research on the benefits and harms of these foods to human health.
Afterwards, they should research about healthy foods by answering the questions:
What health benefits do these foods bring and how many times a week should they be consumed? What vitamins do they have?
Also research the benefits of daily consumption of natural juices and the harmful effects of daily consumption of industrialized juices. Make slides or posters to share with the class. Each group must prepare 10 activities for the other teams to respond to, after each presentation. Then, each group should correct the activities and grade them. To finish the job, he promotes “healthy eating day”. Each group should bring one or more healthy dishes for everyone to taste and present the benefits of this food. At the end, the class should prepare a notebook with these recipes with a cover, index, etc; and socialize among the other classes in the school. Good work!
By Rosiane Fernandes Silva – Graduated in Letters
At answers are in the link above the header.
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