I give Chef Woo one big boo

Have you seen the billboards advertising 'Chef Woo' oriental noodles? They caught my eye last time I was in Edmonton because they are advertised as 97% fat-free (as opposed to the regular Ramen or Ichiban noodles which are about 97% fat-full). Seriously, have you ever looked at the nutrition information on a package of noodles? (I'll apologize in advance if you haven't...you'll never look at them the same way again.) There is something like 29 grams of fat in a single package of instant oriental noodles! I used to love those things - I must have eaten caseloads of them when I was working at the theatre - but ever since I inspected the nutrition label in a moment of insanity, I just can't eat them without feeling terribly guilty.

Enter Chef Woo. I picked up a package at our local grocery store the other day, noticing right from the get-go that the price was significantly higher than the 25 cents a package of regular noodles sells for. I'm not sure how they get away with selling something that has all the fat taken out of it for more, but whatever. I finally got around to taste-testing Chef Woo tonight. Results: 97% gross. I admit it is possible that I overcooked them (I poured the boiling water in, covered, and then got distracted with something else), but I don't really think a couple of minutes less would have made much of a difference. The noodles were mushy, tasteless, and sort of stuck together in a gummy ball as I started eating. Apparently they even smelled bad, as Greg came into the kitchen and wondered what I was making that stunk!

I was very disappointed - I know the likelihood of anything 97% fat-free tasting comparable to the original is pretty low, but still I held out hope. In fact, I'm still hoping that someone will comment and tell me that it was, indeed, just my overcooking that was the culprit and that Chef Woo truly does magically taste like the fat-laden original. Anyone?