Today has been an interesting day – one which is rather fascinating to me. The Danish food authority has deemed the amount of spiciness in Samyang’s Buldak (specifically their 2x, 3x, and Stew types) as enough to be considered at a level that could poison someone. Let’s delve into this, first with a definition of poison:
poison
a substance that is capable of causing the illness or death of a living organism when introduced or absorbed.
“he killed himself with poison”
This is an interesting concept. I honestly think that this is rather strong a term for what spicy foods do. Generally, if someone samples a food that is spicy and they find it overly spicy, they will cease to eat it. In the case of Buldak, this is a little different. People have challenged each other to eat these spicy varieties. As far as I know, it’s never directly killed anyone. It might provide some extreme discomfort, however most people looking at the packaging can tell this isn’t some foo foo stuff that’s like eating cotton candy (I’ve had a spicy variety with Carolina Reaper and Ghost chilies which in comparison makes these Buldak varieties seem like cotton candy, but that’s a different story).
To be blunt, I think this is a case where the wording of the decree is simply a bad idea. The term poison is a strong word when it comes to food. That’s really spicy – but I’ll try it. Compare that sentence with ‘Hey that’s poison – I’m going to be brave and try it.” No comparison – and I think the term poison is what is going to reverberate globally.
Many years ago, another Korean company – Nongshim – had a popular product sidelined. They use something called katsuobushi; smoked fish which is dried and powdered. The Korean food authority said yeah, since it’s smoked, there will be small amounts of carcinogens, but nothing to worry about – I guess maybe if you consumed maybe 300 seasoning sachets, however the sodium would put you down before the carcinogens did. Yup – if you smoke meat, fish, anything – it’s going to have flavor which is a product of smoke. Sorry, barbecue fans. But the agency also mentioned that the product was just fine to eat. But the mention of carcinogens was enough to send certain countries to ban imports for a while. It was pretty rough for them, since having been resolved. Just goes to show that you have to be careful when you’re talking about foods.
I wasn’t going to write anything about this, but I found out I was mentioned in NBC News’ piece about the story. They mentioned I claimed that 2x Buldak was 10,000 SHU (scoville heat units). This is not the case. Last I checked, it was 8,800 SHU while the 3x was 13,200 SHU. I could be wrong about that these days, however.
I’ve done my fair share of mukbang over the years; almost every single Buldak variety, some varieties spicier, some less so. I can say this; don’t feed it to a baby or small child. Honestly, you’ll both regret it I imagine. Second, if you don’t like spicy foods, you won’t like this. If you do like spicy foods, this is great stuff. I, for one, will continue to enjoy these products and enjoy the challenge they bring insofar as spiciness, and the variety and innovation they bring to the instant noodle world. The instant noodle is the finest diplomat of flavors from across the globe.
Hans Lienesch
The Ramen Rater
For more info on Buldak, check out my Ddefinitive Guide to Samyang Foods’ Buldak range of products.
