About a million North Koreans died of starvation in the late 1990s, and the World Food Programme says 6 million more are on the brink. But just as the world is starting to think that Kim Jong-Il doesn’t care about his starving people, he comes up with new super-noodles designed to fight hunger.
From the BBC:
According to [Japan’s Choson Shinbo newspaper], which is seen as closely linked to the Pyongyang leadership, the new noodles have twice as much protein and fives times as much fat as ordinary noodles.
“When you consume ordinary noodles (made from wheat or corn), you may soon feel your stomach empty. But this soybean noodle delays such a feeling of hunger,” it said on its website.
Even if we assume that, unlike most of the announcements coming from North Korea, this one is true, these super-noodles are still no saviour.
Twice as much protein and five times as much fat sounds like a lot, until you realize that a serving of regular rice noodles only contains about one gram of protein and roughly zero grams of fat to begin with. What it does contain is energy-giving carbohydrates, which these noodles lack. With no carbs, the new noodles only delay feelings of hunger rather than actually providing nourishment. Sadly, the best they can do is make starvation a slightly less painful experience.
Image via Econstudentlog.
Story via Harper’s Weekly Review.
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