Since Thailand’s massive flooding problem suddenly became much worse two weeks ago, there has been a rush on dried goods at the supermarket, as well as anything in cans, tins or freezers.
With flood waters now lapping at the borders of Bangkok, it’s not surprising many food stuffs in Bangkok and nationwide are now scare. That includes the Thai staple, Mama brand dried noodles.
Don’t panic but, yes indeed, there is a Mama noodle shortage in Thailand.
Now, in Thailand, where noodles are eaten several times a day, and Mama is the queen of dried noodles, you know there’s a problem when noodles start disappearing off the supermarket shelves so fast, they are empty within hours.
It happened during the military coup in 2006, and again when red shirt protests in Bangkok were said to be getting out of control and spreading. This month it is because of Thailand’s floods.
In fact, so bad is the Mama noodle shortage this week, you cannot find Mama noodles in most shops and supermarkets for love, nor money.
Thai friends we spoke to told us they went to one supermarket and two 7-11s, picking up various items to stock their shelves. They didn’t panic buy or buy too much, but they were guessing a lot of Bangkokians did as, at both 7-11s, many of the shelves were bare. Including the usually well-stocked noodle aisle.
There, the only thing 7-11 had left were the more expensive Japanese noodles hardly anyone buys. But, as for Mama, there were none.
So, if you are a lover of Mama noodles and don’t have a stock in your kitchen cupboard, unfortunately you might have to wait until the floods subside up north, before once again you can buy any packet of Mama noodles you feel like.
And, as restaurants like Hachiban noodles are closed too, don’t expect to be eating noodles in many restaurants either.