A SHA Mitsui Tainan Branch

Why the Best Instant Noodles Are ‘Squiggly’ | Eater

"A Taiwanese noodle company that makes five different shapes of dried noodles: for a while its thin Tainan noodles were the most popular—in large part because they were the company’s first product to be stocked at Costco—but for about the past three years, it’s been all about the knife-cut noodles, which are flat, extra-wide, frilly-edged and, more specifically, “squiggly” (also known as Guanmiao noodles). CEO Young Chang explains the naming arc and consumer demand: “Somewhere along the line, somebody came to me and was like, ‘Hey, I want that squiggly noodle,’” Chang says. He notes the appeal of the word: “Everyone understands what ‘squiggly’ means,” Chang says. Plus, he adds, it’s kind of cute: Even a two-year-old would get it. “We just jumped all over it and started saying squiggly all the time,” he says. The company has differentiated itself by offering a variety of widths and cuts rather than a single signature shape, and its noodles are air-dried (meaning they aren’t fried during production), so “because heat doesn’t touch A-Sha’s noodles until the consumer drops them in a pot of water, they retain a lot of their bounce and chew,” Chang explains—resulting in a texture that’s more like fresh restaurant noodles and lower in oil, which he says appeals to health-conscious consumers. Founded and made in Taiwan since 1977, the business was taken over in 2015 by Chang and Henry Liao with a goal of becoming a global brand and upgrading production to meet the food-safety requirements of big retailers. A single serving of its knife-cut/squiggly style runs about $3.75. Chang also frames the naming shift in cultural terms: “It’s kind of like survival,” Chang says, noting that calling the noodles “squiggly” helps the product and the company succeed by meeting customers where they are and catering to what they want. “Of all the names that we’ve tried on that product, that’s the one that hits.”" - Bettina Makalintal