Global / Brand｜城市・品牌・跨國觀察
EP10 | Nothing Is Ever a Given: What a Bowl of Instant Noodles Reveals About Cultural Differences
What can a bowl of instant noodles tell us about culture? More than we might expect. In this episode, Naomi begins with an ordinary food experience and reflects on the assumptions we carry into everyday life. What feels obvious, natural or “normal” to one person may simply be the result of where they grew up, what they learned and how they have lived. Drawing from experiences across different cities and cultures, she explores food, daily habits and cross-cultural communication—not as abstract ideas, but as small moments that reveal how differently people can see the same world. Sometimes understanding another culture begins with something surprisingly simple: noticing what we have always taken for granted.
Nothing Is Ever a Given
I have always enjoyed observing the small details of a city.
Real cultural exchange does not necessarily happen in formal international meetings. Sometimes it happens in a market, at a dining table, in a convenience store—or in front of a bowl of instant noodles.
The things we consider completely ordinary can look very different to someone who grew up somewhere else.
And that is what makes them interesting.
What Feels “Normal” Is Often Cultural
We rarely question the habits we grow up with.
How we eat. What we eat. When we eat. How we prepare food. What feels polite. What feels strange. Even what we consider comforting.
We often call these things “normal.”
But after living, working and spending time in different cities, I began to realize that many things we think are universal are not universal at all.
They are cultural answers.
They come from family, geography, history, climate, economics and the environments in which we learned how to live.
A bowl of instant noodles can carry all of that.
Curiosity Before Judgment
When we encounter something unfamiliar, our first reaction can be surprisingly quick.
Why do they do it that way?
Isn't this easier?
Isn't that strange?
But there is another question we can ask:
Why might this make sense here?
That small change—from judgment to curiosity—can completely change a conversation.
Cross-cultural communication is not simply about speaking another language. It is also about recognizing that another person's assumptions may be different from our own.
Neither side necessarily has to be wrong.
Sometimes we are simply starting from different places.
The Smallest Things Tell Us Something
The longer I spend in different cities, the more interested I become in ordinary life.
Markets. Convenience stores. Breakfast. Public transportation. The way people order coffee. The way people share food. The way strangers speak to one another… [truncated for model]