Lotus Foods’ New Gluten-Free Soup Cups Are $3.99 at Hy-Vee and Walmart.com

Remember when dinner was a foam cup, a kettle and a foil pouch of powder you tore open with your teeth?

Maybe it was college, maybe a late night at the office, maybe both. The noodles were fried, the broth was mostly salt and you ate it standing over the sink. It did the job, and nobody pretended otherwise.

What actually happened

Lotus Foods, the heirloom rice and rice noodle company, launched Global Soup Cups on Nov 10. It built the recipes with chef Antonio Park, a former Chopped Canada judge. Instead of one pouch of powder, each cup works in three steps: dried vegetables and herbs go in first, then a seasoning blend, then a finishing oil on top.

There are three flavors. Vietnamese Vegetable Pho leans on cinnamon and star anise, Thai Spicy Tom Yum brings lemongrass, lime and chili, and Sichuan Chili Garlic is the hot one. Lotus Foods says the noodles are organic, gluten-free and never fried. The cups are $3.99 at select Hy-Vee stores and on Walmart.com, and on Lotus Foods’ own site you can get a single cup for $3.99 or an 8-pack for $30.99. These three will replace the brand’s current soup cups as they roll out this fall.

CEO Andrew Burke put the pitch simply. “Convenience shouldn’t mean settling for low-quality ingredients or uninspired flavor,” he said.

Our read: the desk lunch is getting a chef

This is our read. Instant noodles were always about speed and price, never pride. Now brands are betting you’ll pay a little more for a cup that tastes closer to a restaurant bowl, with gluten-free noodles so more people at the table can eat it. Soup cups were overdue.

The reality check

A chef’s name and a three-step routine don’t tell you how it tastes, and $3.99 is a premium price for a cup of noodles. Gluten-free and never fried are Lotus Foods’ claims, so read the label if you have celiac disease and check the sodium on the nutrition panel. Hy-Vee is only select stores for now, so online may be the easier way to find them.

The close

You’ll probably still eat it standing over the sink. At least this time there’s a finishing oil.

Sources

Disclosure: WellWham has no affiliate links in this story.