Explainer | Hong Kong’s ‘irreplaceable’ comfort food is in hot water over health fears. The Post boils down the city’s love of instant noodles
- Consumer Council warns 90 per cent of instant noodle samples contain potential carcinogens, but residents take to social media to defend their favourite snack
- Known as gong zai mian in Mandarin, the comfort food has been considered an integral part of Hong Kong’s culinary culture for decades
After the release of the report, office workers, students and night owls took to social media to defend the snack for its convenience and tastiness, calling the comfort food “irreplaceable”.
Gong zai mian – instant noodles in Mandarin – has been an integral part of Hong Kong’s culinary culture for decades, and here the Post dives into the city’s obsession with the pre-packaged comfort food, its potential health hazards and advice from nutritionists on how to make them more nutritious.
1. How obsessed are Hongkongers with instant noodles?
Hongkongers’ passion for this pre-packaged food can be explained by an annual “demand ranking” of the World Instant Noodles Association.
Among 56 places surveyed, Hong Kong and mainland China ranked first from 2018 to 2022, coming ahead of even Japan, where instant noodles were invented.
According to the association’s latest figures, Hongkongers and mainland Chinese consumed 45 billion servings of instant noodles in 2022, seven times the amount eaten in Japan.
The popularity of the pre-packaged food soared to a 10-year high when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, with imports climbing to more than 59,000 tonnes worth HK$1.22 billion (US$156 million), according to Census and Statistics Department data.
