Eating "the Trash"

I feel regenerated by the power of the Ramen Noodle. You know which one. The .22 cent one that comes in a Styrofoam container where each part of the noodle, container and wrapping is bad for the environment. That one. Delicious. The last time I had a Ramen Noodle was when I was a kid and my mom would put it in my lunch box thinking it was a nice cup-of-soup for her little girl who loved the shrimp flavor. That was the closest I got to eating real shrimp back then in cold Washington state. Occasionally we did have fish sticks that are not much better up the food chain but so good with ketchup. College taught me that Ramen Noodle is bad: fried in bad oil, infused with super high levels of sodium, and that the Styrofoam is not recyclable. Ramen is used to kill rats, build houses, and pave streets too. Just kidding. However, college ruined the fun of so many things I enjoyed in my innocent ignorance, Ramen Noodle was one of them. High fructose corn syrup was another and just learning to say that took a long time.

A few weeks ago, I made a trek with one of my military girlfriends to Vicenza Airbase. I felt the energy of the American people in that base just like if I were in the USA. Nostalgia does funny things to us though. In my case, it lead me to buy trashy food like Ramen Noodle. This is something I would have never done or thought of doing if I lived in the US. But, seeing the little short fat cup and the plastic cover that boasted "Shrimp Flavor" made my heart melt remembering the days when I used to eat it. If I had seen this 2 years ago in Baltimore I would have felt a mental allergy attack and gone to the nearest Whole Foods to buy a "Naked" drink that tasted like hay and grass with the texture of saliva. What a snob. Living away from your country makes you appreciate even the cute trashy bits from afar.

"When are you going to eat that trash?" is something my husband has been asking almost everyday for the last 3 weeks. He grew up on the coast in Italy, ate real fish, real soup, really fresh and never had a Ramen Noodle in his lunch box. Not to mention that he looks at the expiration date of things and if it isn't close, then it isn't fresh and not worth buying. He picked up my Ramen Noodle cup, examined its nutrition label, expiration date, looked very concerned of my physical development as a child eating this, and determined soon enough that it was "trash." What got me laughing was his ways to remedy the trash so we could enjoy it together. He would ask the following: "Do you want to have the trash as an aperitivo today? or I bet I can fix the trash with some tomato sauce or pesto. How about if we boil the trash with vegetables like a veggie soup? I will save you and eat the trash by myself (like if the Titanic were sinking and that could save me). Do you think the cats can eat the trash?" Bless his heart. He is the most thoughtful person I know and I definitely appreciate his creativity on ways to make eating the trash less painful. Finally...I ate the trash, all of it, and loved it. I don't think I will buy it again as it does feel like I swallowed a brick but the smell, texture, saltiness and little pieces of trashy shrimp made me smile and enjoy every bite. 

Here is the process for how the trash is made:

I know every mom or dad out there at one point fed their kids something deemed "trash" by others. I encourage you to go find that thing, eat it, and enjoy eating your trash at least one more time.