Ammani has a lovely post on Maggi. I remember there used to be this thing called the Maggi Club. You had to send five wrappers by post. Neatly folded. And you got something in return. Then there was this whole phase where the Maggi packets would have strange stamps of birds and animals inside. I admit, I collected those too.
I also remember sobbing when Maggi’s flavour was changed. The noodles became very spindly, and the masala was changed. My adolescence had finally come to an end. Later though, Maggi went back to what it was. When I was still in school, Maggi had a certain air to it. There were tonnes of kids who got cooked Maggi in their tiffin boxes. The noodles, gone cold, would become like a brick and had to enthusiastically attacked.
And so many ways of making them. Some like them like it cooked with as little water as possible, which is probably my preferred way of consuming them. But some like to make it really soupy. Friday night, a dear friend – NB was picked up from Heathrow. As she ate dinner at home, she commented how it was probably the first time she had eaten something I had cooked. Except for Maggi. While studying for our Board exams, she would come over and we’d make Maggi. In those wonderful days when the waistline was not to be bothered about, we experimented with Maggi. Added copious amounts of cheese. Some very edible and some had to be fed to the dog. Along the way, we discovered other instant noodles. Including Wai Wai noodles from Nepal. But we always went back to Maggi.
My mother administered very limited portions of Maggi. At some point when I was in class 8 or something, there was a rumour about Maggi causing cancer. Proven or otherwise, my mother was convinced that it was unhealthy.
I have very fond memories of going to Sri’s house in Bombay in the early hours of Sundays, with his friends chopping onion, tomato and garlic to make the noodles. The overdose of Maggi at hostel and when living alone, I thought would rid me of my addiction.Nothing of that sort. Even now, we pick up our Maggi packets from the Indian stores. I of course, continue to eat them raw whenever Sri isn’t looking.
Thank you Ammani. Your post brought back a thousand noodle-y memories!
PS – Right after I published, I had an image flash. I am around 9 years old. Summer vacations. Bored to death. Everyone sleeping in the house. I dress up. Sit with a packet of Maggi, and pretend I am on one of those really dull cooking shows on Doordarshan. I proceed to yap about “Isko banane ki vidhi – ek donge mein paani ko garam kijiye, aur masala aur maggi daliye.” (Trans. The recipe – heat up water in a pan, and add the masala and maggi.). I spent the entire afternoon explaining to my imaginary audience the intricate details of making instant noodles. Like I said, I was very bored.
One more PS – Inkyji tells me that she’s inspired to post about Maggi too. Perhaps we’re seeing a Maggi meme in the making! And here’s her post!
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Posted on July 10th, 2007 by Neha Viswanathan
Filed under: Food and Gastronomy, Self, Sri
Dekho maggi kare kamaal, peela packet ho ya laal, bachchon ko jab bhookh lage to… garam garam aur pyaar bhare, khayein jab bhi bhookh lage..
:)
Little Neha’s cooking demo- Awwww.
Lovely post- we still enjoy our slurpy Maggi noodles.
We first had instant noodles in Thailand, around the time Anand was born, and were so pleased when they followed us home to India a few years later!
Maggi does rock! I reckon it must have been the most frequently consumed food in my college too :)
PS: I’ve done lotsa interviews in my head… sometimes where I’ve been the next Sachin Tendulkar being interviewed by Harsha Bhogle [:D]… but gotta admit… never really donned the cricket attire to imagine the interview! Way to go! [:D]
Oh Maggi! I choke up with emotion every time I think of the yellow-red packet of sheer delight. So many many many memories.
wai wai is not from nepal. tell nb she can stuff something up her **** coz she didnt even say bye before leaving.
Sneha: :) I confess – I never managed to make the noodles in two minutes.
dipali: Yes, I kept saying things like, “abhi ise thodi der pakne den”. I guess in those programming-starved days, we’d watch anything. Including the absurd craft shows – where some really bored person would show you how to make a lamp out of old newspaper or something.
Sunny: How else were kids supposed to entertain themselves in those days – other than having imaginary talk shows in the head.
firstrain: Choking with emotion maybe overdoing it! :)
Silky: Oh yes, it’s definitely from Nepal – made by CG Foods, though apparently they have factories in India too. Here’s an article on Rediff featuring inputs from Binod K Chaudhary, the MD of the company. As for telling nb – well, I have a feeling if I tell her that, she’ll wave you a very enthusiastic bye. :)
This one took me to a happy place.
Thanks.
[...] Neha writes down her own Maggi [...]
Overdoing it? After surviving days on end – and I mean days and days and days – I owe a huge part of my higher education to those packets of noodles. :D *choke*
the bizzaro connection grows bizzarer… had the strongest, most intense craving for maggi at lunch time today. reminisced over the world famous in DU maggi, with people who couldn’t care less about DU – but yes, they could smell the masala too. still, nothing beats the midnight cooking back in college.. and oh that completely persecuted look on the poor sucker’s face, who was condemned to wash the damn pan!!
TS: Always happy to do so. :)
firstrain: Look what I found! Now you can replay your debt by paying their hosting bills! Haha! But yeah, I share the sentiment – Maggi was flowing in my veins too.
piggy: We always has a connection no? And the pan! The trouble is if you don’t wash the maggi pan immediately, it becomes dry and harder to scrub out. Some of the more posh people in our wing had non stick saucepans – but the trouble is – that unless a little maggi sticks to the pan – there’s nothing left to scratch with your fingers and eat!
Uncles working for Nestle contributed to one’s culinary expertise.
Hey, I used to munch on raw noodles too…
[whisper] … and raw atta..
[...] is inspired and shares some cute memories of Maggi. I am around 9 years old. Summer vacations. Bored to death. Everyone sleeping in the house. I dress [...]
Nilu: Would it also mean free cartons of goodies?
Ash: Sister!! Raw atta, raw rice, raw wheat (the whole grain), raw milk powder (!). My friends used to look at me with sheer horror.
[...] talking about a certain Mrs. Thatcher but the “2-minute” noodle dish called Maggi that Neha’s post brought back [...]
I have had my phases of I love maggi I hate maggi. These days, like yourserlf, I too pick up maggi at the local indian store. Their newer flavors are likeable in moderation. I like how it does remind of a certain part of growing up though I never realized it until I read your post just now.
:-)
“isko banane ki vidhi”….that just cracked me up.
And once again – RAW maggi? Seriously, girl, raw MAGGI?
good fond memories… yeah.. 2mins was never the case..
from early 80s… till date.. Maggi rocks.. I remember at IIM-B, during the night-outs on projects, the 2AM maggi was the saving grace..
now-a-days.. there is egg maggi, chicken maggi n wot not.. but the traditional maggi still is the bestest thing to happen to bachelor-mankind!
my fav flavour – Tomato. mmmmm…
lovely!
and i must confess.. each and every thing that you did is someting I did too..you wouldnt believe how we used to collect those 5 packets of maggi..and one of my friend..she used to get loads of those gifts from maggi.. and I would wonder mera number kab aayega!
I also used to eat them less watery till I went to college and rediscovered the taste.. I also love them abs raw :). masala is my fav.. though chicken was also tolerable in those early days.. ek sweet and sour bhee ataa thaa.. woh bhee theek thaa..
Suddenly everyone’s writing abt maggi.. ! :)
My mother was totally against Maggi :((. She had this fad against it, saying it was totally unhealthy. We never had maggi in our home. My childhood encounters with it were only at friends’ houses and at school. So much was my soul starved for maggi that I literally gorged on it when I came to college. The result being, I’m rather bored of it now. Really unfortunate.
Does anybody remember the flavour capsica? Sigh.
Maggi was the favourite dish ! For a long time. When all the health consciuoness hadnt come in. And perhaps, when i was more healthy..! When the innocence was still intact !
The new Maggi rice noodle Mania chilly chow flavour is rather good.
it was the only thing my grandmother could cook and we even had it at a birthday party for me because all the kids were nuts about it and werent allowed to have it at home…
we used to break an egg in to give it some legitimacy..!