You go to the Chinese and order a portion of noodles. Really Chinese? Not really, as appears from the TV program Inspection Service of Value. The noodles from the Chinese and the nests of noodles that you buy at the supermarket are actually just Italian pasta.
Even Chinese restaurants bring this ‘mie’ over from Italy. Chinese noodle – real noodle – is something completely different. You can get them in shops. “This noodles has nothing to do with noodles,” said a restaurant owner who spoke in the broadcast. He also serves Italian ‘mie’ to Dutch people, but he gives Chinese guests to his Asian guests.
The fact that we eat noodles from Italy is the result of a marketing ploy, according to a telephone call that one of the makers makes with the Lorenzo Ferraro factory. “We launched that product twenty years ago,” says the Italian to Teun van de Keuken about the mistresses. It happened by chance. Ferraro received a visit from a marketing man from Unilever. “He saw our product in Italian packaging. got the idea to put it in Asian packaging.” That was a big hit, and the nests can be found on both the pasta and Asian shelves in supermarkets.
Joop Bartelds, former buyer of mie, says that it was indeed a marketing idea. “It’s original Dutch noodles”, he explains investigative journalist Ersin Kiris with a smile. “Authentically made in Italy.”
The reactions to the TV show range from fun to great. “They show time and again how marketing has taken over the world of food and that we are being made fun of with sweet talk and pictures,” Bernie Klunder writes on the program’s Facebook page. Marjan van Leeuwen also enjoyed herself. ‘Was another confrontational genius item. You get cheated in front of you.’ ‘Another great broadcast!’ says Susanne Koppenol. Bert Klok: ‘People just like to be cheated.’