During the school year, college students can easily get stuck managing their time poorly. Classes keep students inundated with homework, projects, and exams to the point where eating is sometimes the last thing on a student's mind. Many people resort to options such as instant ramen and fast food because they are convenient, however they offer little nutritional value and are high in sodium, sugar, and fat.
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A couple of semesters ago, I made the mistake scheduling six hours of classes in a row with no breaks in between, which left me with little time to eat. I ended up trying the nutritionally-balanced, meal replacement drink, Soylent, which held me over until I could get myself some actual food after class. This usually worked out fine, but on days I felt especially hungry, I craved something savory (as all of the flavor offerings from Soylent are sweet). I began to wonder if there was something remotely similar to Soylent that could satisfy my salt cravings. In April of 2018, I stumbled across a Kickstarter for a line of healthy ramen called ViteRamen.
What is ViteRamen?
ViteRamen is the first instant ramen that is made with taste, nutrition, and convenience in mind. Each packet contains a 500-calorie meal that can be prepared in under five minutes, with one serving size including a 25% daily recommended value of all essential vitamins and minerals (compared to one bottle of Soylent, which has 400 calories and contains 20% of your daily value of micronutrients). It is emphasized that this healthy ramen does not include artificial preservatives, deep frying of the noodles, or excessive sodium. ViteRamen is made completely in the U.S. and comes in three flavors: garlic pork, soy sauce chicken, and vegan mushroom shio.
My Overview of ViteRamen
When I first found ViteRamen on Kickstarter, I was so intrigued that I impulsively backed the project choosing the pledge option of receiving four packets in each flavor. The target month for backers to receive their ViteRamen was August, but I received mine in January of 2019. (I anticipated and was willing to accept any delays in receiving my ramen as this was a crowdfunded project and I was so excited to try it.)
In a bag of ViteRamen, there are the noodles, a seasoning sachet, a 'noodrient' sachet (how punny of them), an oil sachet, and a dehydrated vegetable packet. The instructions direct you to cook the noodles in boiling water for two and a half minutes, remove them from heat (to let the noodles cool down so the nutrients do not degrade when added), and then add the four packets of ingredients. I found that the best way of making the noodles was to cook them for one and a half minutes and then transfer the noodles and water to a bowl.
Finally, I sat down to taste my healthy ramen. I noticed that the water slightly thickened up into a broth from the ingredient packets. The taste of the broth of the three flavors were nearly indistinguishable to me; mildly salty and earthy, with a little bit of a funk that I think could be attributed to the noodtrient powder that was added. Nothing a little spoonful of soy sauce and rice vinegar couldn't fix in my opinion. I actually think it's a good thing that they made ViteRamen have a neutral flavor profile because each person can always add more soy sauce or other ingredients if they so desire. The noodles were very straight and flat in shape but they had a nice texture to them because of the mix of all-purpose flour and quinoa flour. Overall, I would describe the eating experience of ViteRamen (with a few added ingredients such as a softboiled egg, chopped up onions, and soy sauce) to be pretty satisfying.
ViteRamen checks off a lot of boxes for what busy people want from a meal. Each serving offers a healthy, fast, and relatively tasty bowl of noodles that can be customized to every person's preferences. Preparing a bowl of ViteRamen may not be as convenient as the grab-and-go-ability of Soylent, however the fact that these noodles are a savory and easy-to-make option is undeniably awesome. Furthermore, a packet of ViteRamen has comparable calories to your average packet of instant ramen, but is a more nutritionally balanced option. I think that ViteRamen is a great food to be stocked up on for days when you're craving something savory but are crunched for time to make a meal.
If you're interested in buying your own healthy ramen to try, check out ViteRamen's website for when their online shop officially launches.