I hear about new food innovations in one of two ways: I either see a press release or someone risks their job by messaging me directly. It’s a simple system! This is such an airtight system that I was absolutely flabbergasted when I saw something sneak through the cracks. There I was, doomscrolling on Facebook, when I got an advertisement for “Old El Paso Tex-Mex Ramen.” This food amalgam is 100% the kind of thing I should have heard about long before it hit the “available now” stage of advertising. As such, it was a huge relief when I clicked the ad to discover it was a giant conspiracy…
Gasp! A giant conspiracy?
Sort of! It turns out that General Mills, the parent company of Old El Paso, is only surveying the concept of Old El Paso Tex-Men Ramen. But that’s not all they’re testing. Clicking the ad brought me to a page where I was asked about four different ramen flavors based on existing General Mills brands.
I guess there’s no better person to survey about a new product idea than someone who’s already clicked an ad for said product. The second Old El Paso flavor I was questioned about was Chicken Jalapeno & Lime. This sounds like it probably already exists in the ramen aisle; bring on the weird stuff.
What other foods are they shoving inside ramen cups!?
After the Old El Paso flavors, we got to the really interesting stuff: two different Totino’s ramen flavors. First on the chopping block was Totino’s Pepperoni Hot Honey “Raman” Noodles. This sounds similar to my favorite Neapolitan pizza of all time (Old Scratch’s Angry Beekeeper, accept no substitutes), so I’m 100% on board. And yes, that “Raman” typo is in the product mockup they showed me. It just goes to show you how early in development these flavors are! Finally, I was shown the item that made this survey a must-write-about: Totino’s Party Pizza Ramen Noodles. Folks, I’m writing this article purely to force General Mills’ hand on this single product. I need this.
When can I buy these dorm room science experiments?
Hold your horses, there’s quite a few steps before we get to find out what “Party Pizza Ramen” actually means. Since this is still in the “surveying the public” stage of concept testing, there’s no telling how long it’ll be until these hit shelves—if ever. That being said, I’m pretty sure someone at General Mills is going to end up seeing this article. So, if you really want to see these ramen innovations hit stores, let them know how you feel in the comments! Since they seem to have the entire General Mills brand library to choose from, I’d love to see some sort of Bugles-infused ramen we could force Tyler to review.
UPDATE: Confirmed!
Totino’s Pizza Ramen Noodles are REAL and coming soon. According to Brand Eating, these instant noodles will be available in Walmarts nationwide, starting in March, for $1.88 each. There will be two flavors: Cheese Pizza and Buffalo-Style Chicken Pizza.
