think i figured out what makes these noodles that i'm having taste so good.

they don't really have much of an Asian flavour profile since they're adapted for the Norwegian market, so the soup mostly tastes like chicken broth.

what they do have though is celery powder. makes it taste like real soup. to a Norwegian, anyway.

the story behind Mr. Lee noodles is interesting. he was a young Korean civilian who was injured in the war there and was sent to a Norwegian MASH unit. his condition was too serious to treat there, so he was flown to Norway to receive treatment there, and was then granted asylum.

he worked in restaurants and was successful at that. hard worker. then he decided to launch Asian noodles as a mass market product to Norwegians, who weren't accustomed to those back in the 90s.

his TV ads looked like typical Korean or Japanese ads with high-tempo off-the-wall humour, and nothing like that had ever been seen on Norwegian TV, so his noodles were an instant hit.