Recently, Denmark recalled a brand of Korean ramen for being too spicy. At the time I read about this I was on Koh Tao, and I noticed the 7-11 nearby was selling this specific brand. Given my cat-like curiosity, and my love of spicy food, how could I not give them a try?
The noodles in question are a creation by Samyang: Buldak 3x Spicy & Hot Chicken, 2x Spicy & Hot Chicken, and Hot Chicken Stew. The only one I could find was the 2x Spicy, so I wouldn’t get to see how spicy these noodles could actually get, but even these were too spicy for the Danish.
I bought some at my nearby 7-11. They even came with special Buldak brand chopsticks. I took them back home and prepared them in the usual way, put on a good1 YouTube video, and waited to for the so-called poisonous ramen to be ready to eat.
After eating them I can say they are definitely good noodles. Obviously they aren’t going to be the most nutritious of meals (don’t bring them to Dragon Burn), but for what they are they’re very tasty. But are they really too spicy?
They are definitely spicier than other pot noodles I’ve had, especially if you drink the soup afterwards. But they are nowhere near as spicy as, say, a vindaloo or a madras. They’re extremely tame compared to food coming out of the Sichuan or Sha’anxi provinces in China. Even in South Korea I’ve had spicer food.
Granted, these are only the 2x spicy, not the 3x spicy. But even these were considered dangerous enough to be on the market in Denmark. Personally I don’t think they are, but I’m the kind of person who occasionally eats pure capsaicin or ghost peppers for a challenge, so my tolerance is higher2 than most peoples’.
I guess this means that Danish just can’t handle spicy food then? Well, not necessarily. Obviously this is anecdotal, but from reading through reddit posts and comments about the recall, Denmark does seem to have spicier food than this. One theory is that kids were eating too many of them as part of a TikTok challenge, but the veracity of stories like these is always questionable.
Whatever the real reason these noodles were recalled in Denmark, it’s an odd story about some pot noodles that are pretty decent. They say any publicity is good publicity, and I’m sure that’s true in this case, since I’m definitely not the only one who’s gotten curious enough to see what the fuss is about.
