eli5: How do “instant” versions of foods (instant oatmeal, coffee, rice, etc.) exist? Why are they not the standard since they’re so efficient?
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Instant foods are simply prepared and dehydrated versions of the food.
There is a balance between quality and nutritional value on one side, and convenience and ease/speed of preparation on the other. Cooking foods tend to involve some pretty complex or time consuming actions. Let’s use potatoes as an example. It can easily take 30 minutes to make mashed potatoes from whole potatoes, once you account for washing, peeling, chopping, boiling, and mashing. But instant potatoes turns that 30 minutes into less than 5. All of the preparation steps were handled at the factory, so all you need to do is add water to the potatoes and the process is complete.
For the longest time I thought all ramen was the same as the cheap instant ramen packs. But then I had the fresh stuff at a restaurant and oh my GOD it was AMAZING! Point is, instant things are often much less tasty than freshly prepared. Plus you can’t get whole eggs, fresh beef and tofu, fresh veggies etc inside the instant packs.
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Is a little historical perspective allowed as a top-level comment?
In the 1960’s, the US space program developed freeze-dried foods, which were later sold to the public. The most famous was *Tang*, a freeze-dried orange beverage. Children like me thought this was the coolest thing ever, and begged our mothers to buy it. We’d been prepped by TV shows like *The Jetsons* for a future where we’d all be taking pills for our food.
Then, we actually tasted it. And Tang was awful. We were so excited before we took a sip, and then my mom saw the look on our faces. The “I told you so” look on her face – long familiar to us – was priceless. So, as many others have pointed out, the convenience often sacrifices taste. OTOH, as a kid, this was an early object lesson that what looks great in a TV commercial might not be so great in real life.
The instant version of rice sold in blocks in Japan is pretty good. Not much different from fresh-cooked in taste and texture. It’s very expensive for what you get though, so I cooking rice in a rice cooker is still the most cost-efficient way.
Instant oatmeal? Oatmeal and water in the microwave for 2mins and you have oatmeal? why need an instant version
Everything comes at a price. While they are more convenient, they are trade offs in quality/taste/flavor etc. not always all three, but some people prefer to make fresh oats. Not everyone is time constrained.
Every convenience has to be paid for by the loss of something else.
In the case of food–
1. Quick
2. Nutritious
3. Tastes good
Pick two.
Have you ever tried instant coffee?
if you have, did you ever try proper coffee?
Instant coffee is straight up vile compared to coffee, and I am gonna guess that holds true for the other things you mentioned as well
Are you also talking about freeze-dried food?
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