MAMA MIA! Thai instant noodles are used as ‘money’ in American prisons

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MAMA MIA! Thai instant noodles are used as ‘money’ in American prisons

By Coconuts Bangkok

 

Photo: Twentyfour Students/Flickr

 

BANGKOK: -- In American prison and need some cigarettes? Or want someone to cover your work shift in the dining hall? You can pay people for their goods and services in American prisons with Thai instant noodles!

 

Apparently, Thai instant noodles are all the rage in the U.S. slammer, and are so prized for their delicious, spicy flavors that they can be used instead of money to barter for good and services.

 

However, we’re not sure if we’ll see Mama or the other brands reaching out to this customer market with convict-specific advertising campaigns.

 

Full story: http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2016/09/28/mama-mia-thai-instant-noodles-are-used-money-american-prisons

 

-- © Copyright Coconuts Bangkok 2016-09-28

[ldiablo72]

A quick Google search will show that it is not Thai Mama that is becoming more popular in American prisons but rather Japanese Ramen. Not one article mentions anything about Thai noodles.

[Jingthing]

Yeah, not only in prison. 

Living on instant ramen is fairly common.

Big part of my "diet" in my salad days (20s). Salad would have been better. 

Cheap, filling, quick, easy, and you can add stuff to it if you want. 

Edited September 28, 2016 by Jingthing

[tifino]

 

probably for feeding their latest addiction - M$G

[Jingthing]

1 minute ago, tifino said:

 

probably for feeding their latest addiction - M$G

People love salt and sugar. 

[ldiablo72]

And to add to my previous comment, "Although the research is based on anecdotal evidence from fewer than 60 inmates and staff from one male state prison." This statement made from an article published by the BBC and another article from the Guardian which is a highly ficticious paper in my mind.

[tifino]

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

People love salt and sugar. 

 

...yeah - them things too!!

[Squeegee]

Actually, instant noodles in Thailand reflect the market they are intended for: sachets of overly spicy mush that has no real delicious flavour at all. To get the best out of them one has to limit the amount of these silly powders or avoid adding it at all.

 

It reflects the Thainess pissing contest of Project Thailand, the more ridiculously overbearing the chilli, the more Thai one is... except where powerful chilli flavours do work in freshly made lab moo they really don't in a mini plastic bucket of spice mud.

 

 

Back home, we are saved by diversity depending on where one shops, but even then, unless one chooses wisely it can result in poor quality guck.

 

 

 

 

On the other hand, Viet Nam is a fantastic place to get instant rice soups and noodles....

 

They have a lot of the great qualities of the Thais when it comes to their appreciation of food, and the culture and occasion of food (yet with a more sensible approach to their use of chilli), but they are also in a unique position to be a closed country currently opening up. It means less commercialized products, almost naive in the quality of the dried ingredients, and then furthermore their Chinese (yes, it's true!), Japanese and Korean influences with aspects of those food cultures also contributing to what can be found on the shop shelves in Viet Nam.

 

 

This is why, if this story is to be believed, then the inmates really need to be told to source their instant noodles - and especially rice soups - from Viet Nam along with some of the others that they import from nearby Asian countries if they really want good quality and interesting ideas.

 

My money where my mouth is: a rice soup with frog meat.

 

 

 

 

Note it says 'Freeze dried rice porridge blocks'

 

 

 

 

Freeze dried often really just means corners cut, one way or another, but these have pretty good quality and reasonable sized ingredients...

 

 

...of meat and vegetables.

 

 

 

Maybe it's the French influence...

 

 

 

I forget how much it costs, but something like this would usually be around 30,000VND.

 

 

You don't have to try frog legs, they have fish, chicken, mushroom, beef, clam... the list goes on.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 28, 2016 by Squeegee

[tracker1]

Not only they bargain with the noodles some do the bargaining with their doodles !

[ScotBkk]

1 hour ago, ldiablo72 said:

A quick Google search will show that it is not Thai Mama that is becoming more popular in American prisons but rather Japanese Ramen. Not one article mentions anything about Thai noodles.

Thanks for killing that post in its tracks. 

 

Youve save me time and energy trawling through comments so I'll get back to my siesta 

[mesterm]

Kind of poetic, depending on how you look at it...

[DepDavid]

I can confirm the report is basically true. However it should have read "instant noodles of any brand" because the vendors charging 10 times the retail price buy the cheapest thing on the market. They sell a LOT of noodles. 

[bark]

4 hours ago, ldiablo72 said:

A quick Google search will show that it is not Thai Mama that is becoming more popular in American prisons but rather Japanese Ramen. Not one article mentions anything about Thai noodles.

We all know that Thailand is " The Hub of Instant Noodles"

Please do not say or we will send you for Re-education.

[HLover]

More rubbish from coconuts, research shows the 'real' currency in American prisons is posterior portals.