South Korea‘s top instant noodle maker Nongshim announced Monday the launch of Shinbok-ghetti Big Bowl, a cup noodle that combines two of its top-selling ramyun, Shin Ramyun Fried Noodles, Nongshim’s spicy flagship noodle but without broth, and Jjapaghetti, instant black bean ramyun.

“Having monitored social media mentions from last October through this February, we learned that Jjapaghetti was the word most frequently paired with Shin Ramyun Fried Noodles. So we officially brought them together in our new product for consumers to enjoy the combination more conveniently.” said a company official.

This is not the first time Nongshim released noodles based on recipes developed by consumers themselves, often by mashing up different types of ramyun. Such combinations include jjapaguri, a combination of Jjapagetti and Neoguri (seafood-flavor udon-style noodles), and Kaguri, also made of Neoguri but infused with curry.

“Consumers are experimenting with different types of ramyun to come up with new formulas themselves, in a trend coined as ‘modisumers’ -- consumers modifying, or putting their own twist on standard recipes. As we expect this trend to continue, our company hopes to serve such customer needs by offering a more diverse array of brilliant combinations.” said the company official.

By Ahn Ju-hee (dianahn@heraldcorp.com)