 Cup Noodles new breakfast flavors out Walmart has the whole food world going nuts. Everybody is asking why are Asian flavors so weird or are they? Yeah, I mean this discussion has been going on for a long time. It just went viral again because Cup Noodles Andrew just dropped their breakfast flavored instant ramen. It tastes like pancakes, eggs and sausage and it got a lot of people going crazy. Just like any time, you know, people see the fast food from Asia, whether that's Pizza Hut or McDonald's. There's just a lot of exotic things. They got a lot of Western people going, huh? Yeah, I guess we want to talk about why are people so weirded out by these items? Should they be? Who are these items for and is this some type of proxy war for some cultural war that's going on low key? I don't know guys, please hit that like button and check out other episodes of the hot pot boys as we delve into everything serious to silly. Yeah, let's get into the internet comments from non-Asia people. They're like, oh my gosh, this breakfast flavored instant ramen looks disgusting. How about no, but other people were like, you know, why am I intrigued by this? You know what's funny is that the flavor is not weird. This is not a weird flavor. It's just a weird form of the flavor. So for people to say that sounds disgusting, I think that they didn't really think about it. I think they're being a little closed minded because you're talking about pancake sausage and eggs. That's literally what you want to eat for breakfast in America. I am very interested in the formula to see how they pull it off. And I think that that was the perspective of a lot of Asian people. They're like, this has gone too far. But I'd still like to try it. Other people are like, you know, I'm just going to stick with spicy shrimp for breakfast. That's my normal breakfast that I normally eat. Do you think that in general Asians are more open to just like exotic or weird food flavors? For sure, man. We grew up eating different things, but I also think there is this internal competitiveness amongst Asians where they like to collect the different weird dish taste buds. No, the food palette spectrum experiences. They want to collect those points like it's Pokemon. Like, yo, I've had that before. Oh, I had that before. And you would say that that's a game that a lower ratio of Western people like to play, right? No, I think maybe Western people are more competitive about other things. Right. Somebody said prison inmates must be over the moon. I'm not going to lie. This is what makes me laugh. Somebody said all instant ramen is bad for you. It doesn't matter if it's pancake flavored or the most basic beef flavor. All the nod trites. It's all bad. And some said even Gen Z is not going to eat this. And Gen Z kids will eat anything if you know what I mean. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I'm curious about it. I would try it. Listen, at less than $2 a pop, I think a lot of people are going to try it. Especially due to inflation nowadays, maybe people can't even afford a regular sausage, pancakes and eggs anymore. You've got to get the ramen version. Think of how many cup of noodles you can buy for even the price of a McGriddle. So server McGriddles or a sausage, egg and cheese McMuffin and McDonald's. Andrew, let's zoom out to the bird's eye. Why do you think that so many Western people think that Asians are into eating weird things? Obviously, it extends an ancient way to like weird cuts of meats or like obviously people say we eat weird animals or the accusations of all the way. I don't even want to take it there. Yeah, I know what I'm talking about. All the way to just like even weird exotic flavors of fast food items now, even though like you said it's just a weird combination. Theoretically pancake flavored things should be delicious. It kind of goes to like what you hold sacred. And I think a lot of Western people and people in general of their own culture of every Asians do this for Asian cultures a lot of times. But like a lot of Western people they hold pizza as kind of sacred. No, let's not just say Western people, Andrew, because I do not think Europeans do. I actually think Americans hold fast food combination sacred. Yeah, they hold especially pizza for some reason. I don't know if it's because it's rooted in the Italian roots or whatever it is. Or maybe it's just like being the East Coast traditionalist, but a lot of people here don't want to mess with pizza too much. They're like, I don't know. The best pizza is still just sauce and cheese. Somebody is against pineapple and ranch on a pizza. What are you going to think about these Asian pizzas that we're about to go through? Do you think it's true though? If you think, yeah, it only should be cheese and pepperoni. Those are the only two flavors of pizzas it should be. That's kind of a narrow minded perspective. Well, you know, two Italians from Italy, the American pizza might be a little bit weird to them. It's not even the original form of pizza. So they're like, it's so weird in America. And then people in America are like, I don't know about them Asian pizzas. So it's just a pecking order down the line. Yeah, let's get into some of these Asian pizzas. Andrew Momo pizza from Nepal. Malai chicken from India. Pakistan has a kebab crust on their pizza. Taiwan might be the king of strange pizza flavors. They got Oreo crust, Boba pizza, blood cake pizza. Malaysia's got a seven cheese durian pizza. Maru Padu. Indonesia's got a dim sum pizza. Nasi Goreng pizza. Singapore's got the Nasi Lemak. South Korea, obviously also famous for a lot of crazy flavors. Mr. Pizza. They got a lot of stuff with blueberry dip, cookie dough crust, flying fish roe from Hong Kong into Thailand has a weed leaf pizza. And Japan is putting corn, mayo and potatoes on everything. Do these look good to you? Do they look bad or do they look in between? Some of them sound really good. I would definitely try them if they were being served around in the city. I would definitely try it. I'd be interested. But at some point I would be honest that some of it doesn't look like pizza. And I could see if someone wants to say like, okay, well, this is like just a different form of food. But also you could call it pizza. Pizza's a blank slate at the end of the day, right? Yeah. I mean, I think it depends. Like if we surveyed 100 people, I think you would get 100 different opinions. I'm sure people would fall into distinct camps. So let's get into our takeaways, Andrew. Do Asians have less barriers in their mind? We are talking about a Western flavor on an Eastern thing, breakfast ramen. And we're talking about an Eastern flavor on a Western thing, mayo shrimp pizza. What is weird nowadays? And how do we get Americans to accept it? And are Americans more likely to accept it now that the world is becoming more diverse, even though they were like fast food elitists for a while? Well, I think some people in America are going to be holding on to whatever last things they feel like are unadulterated American things. Right. Is it weird though for Americans to treat fast food and be like, oh, yeah, that's a weird Big Mac. That ain't the type of Big Mac we got where I'm like, are you an old Italian chef from Napoli talking about pizza? Is that weird to take pride in fast food like that? I don't know, because fast food is very American. It's very unique. That is an American product. So it's like cereal, like dry cereal. So does everybody just take ownership of what their culture created and put out to the world? And so they're like, you know, even Uncle Roger, to me, I think his videos are kind of funny, but I don't agree with him when he's like, oh my God, why are you cooking fried rice like that? I don't care how another culture cooks fried rice. They can do it how they want, obviously. I mean, yeah, I think that's for jokes for the most part. But at the end of the day, there are a portion of Asians that want to be like, oh my gosh, you made pho that way. Or whoa, you're serving these type of dumplings because everybody feels like that you're trying to appropriate their culture or take away from their culture by doing that. Whether you're talking about profits, market share or just shift the narrative. Yeah, or like, oh, if you happen to do pho or do an Asian item a different way. You're saying items that feel near and dear to someone's heart. I mean, different people from different worlds and different cultures hold different things close to their heart. Yeah, but they feel like that if those things are made different and other people like them, then the old way will get taken away. And it's going to compete with the old way. And I think that that's just a feeling that a lot of people have about culture, right? They want to keep culture and they want to keep it to themselves. Or, you know, hold on to it because it makes them feel whole if it's done in a traditional way. Because if other people can do your culture better than you in a different way, then you're going to feel some type of way. And by the way, they do eat weird, different fast food and pizza flavors in Europe as well. And they put eggs on pizza in Australia all the time. So what do you think? Do you think that people should just drop these like gatekeeping aspects and enjoy other people's versions of things? I'm at the point where I'm like, yo, if people want to reinvent Asian foods, I will try a cheeseburger potsticker. I'll try a cheeseburger shalom baom. Don't you feel that way because you eat Asian foods so often that you're so secure in my Asian food identity? Yes, yes, yes. But I mean, I would say a lot of other Asians don't feel the way. And oftentimes it's the Asians who don't eat a lot of Asian food who are going to be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you can't switch that up on me. Don't do that. Right. And you're saying the same way the people that are rebelling against these pizzas and particularly this breakfast ramen, they might be people who don't like step outside of their little small spectrum. I mean, I don't know if you talk to pizza chefs. I think some pizza chefs are going to be like, you know, that's not how I do pizza, maybe. But, you know, I've traveled the world and I've seen I've had good food with all different types of things on it. If that's their prerogative. Okay. Do you think that there is a market opening up in the U.S. for like pizza that is pushing the boundaries more like it's different. Even on the East Coast, there are much more pizza traditionalist than on the West Coast. Yeah. I mean, I think so. I already see and we've had pizza in the city that is already pushing the envelope slices. Slices and there's a lot of other spots too that are serving slightly odd pizza. But I think like just in general, America has an idea of like what's weird and America really doesn't like to be weird because they feel like that they're the center of normalcy in the world because they are the center. I mean, they believe they're the fast food chains globally are American. We don't really have foreign fast food chains. We define what pizza was to the world even though it came from Italy. We define it. We define what burgers were to the world even though they're originally from from hamburger journey. But it doesn't matter because we define it. We define what fries are even though they're from France but in Belgium. Belgium, Belgium. Yeah. But we define them. So I think America rightfully so sometimes wants to hold on to those things that are so purely American. But you know, the world is getting globalized and everybody's putting all types of toppings on fried rice, egg rolls, dumplings and pizza. And it is it's a whole mixture of things as long as you stay respectful. I don't think these Asian pizza shops like the Pizza Hut in Asia is being like. Right. They never said this male shrimp pizza is so much better than traditional New York style. Yeah. Yeah. I just want to say that we are serving the greatest pizza ever served in the world. Peking duck, Beijing Kalyang, the pizza. Yeah. This is better than all other pizza. No, I don't think there's. Anyway, let us know what you think in the comment section below. I have always been wanting to bring Asian flavors on pizza to America. I've received, you know, I've been doing a lot of beta testing and you know, the results are very mixed. Let us know if you think that people will ever accept them or maybe if we're going to be traditional about anything. We're traditional about fast food because that's American culture. Let us know what you think in the comment section below from silly to serious with the hop up boys until next time we out. Peace.