Introduction

Ramen is a very popular dish in eastern culture and has existed for over 200 years. It was first made in China and soon expanded to Japan were remained very popular. Because it has existed in these regions for so long the locals have adopted a certain way of consuming it. With chopsticks being the most common utensils in the east, many people have learned to enjoy the noodles first and then finish their broth at the end of the meal by drinking it straight from the bowl. Despite its long history, Ramen is relatively new to the rest of the world.

With its first appearance in the US in the form of instant ramen in 1973. From their demand for ramen has just gone up. With the introduction of this Raman has become a fast, convenient and affordable meal that can be eaten by anyone anywhere, but one problem remains. The expansion of ramen doesn’t mean that other eastern things are as much of a hit. Chopsticks aren’t as mainstream as spoons or forks in the US because they are much harder to use. Along with this not many people are a fan of the broth that remains at the end of a meal and would rather have it along with their noodles.

To help with this issue we have made an easy-to-use utensil that is specifically designed to help those who can’t use chopsticks. Along with this, it will also help the individual get more broth in with every bite so that their meal is more enjoyable and so that they don’t throw away or waste the broth. This invention is something that is much more familiar to the rest of the world and doesn’t require that you learn how to use chopsticks when all you want to do is enjoy some ramen. Not to mention that buying it is not going to put a dent I your wallet. Price wise it would be rather close to a normal utensil, so anyone can afford it without needing to invest much to try it.

There are other people in the world who have already noticed a need for an invention like this and have attempted to do something to fulfill this role. However, most of these inventions are ineffective due to the shape of their designs and can be engineered to improve one’s experience of taking enough broth and ramen in one go.

Body

The most popular product made forming an effective method for broth and ramen consumption at once is the MoMA spork. To pick up the broth, the spork must be faced horizontally. However, all the broth is lost when having to pick up ramen as the spork must be faced down. Similarly, the same could be said when doing this in vice versa. You could pick up ramen first, but when trying to pick up broth, the noodles get in the way and may not allow for much broth to be picked up and may even cause some noodles to be dropped due to this contact. This product has the basic idea down but fails to execute this with the desired and efficient ease because it is not ergonomic in its design.

Another similar product in picking up food and broth at once is TiTo’s spork. However, due to the material of this spork being titanium, it is easier to bend than stainless steel even if this allows for the spork to be much more lightweight. Though this spork does allow more broth to be picked up than the MoMa spork, it still has the same issues as the MoMa spork in that it is harder to pick up ramen and broth at the same time because of moving the spork in different directions. 

To combat this issue, we created a design consisting of combining a fork and straws in a new way (combo fork straw). Rather than a spoon being infused with fork tines, we have decided to have a fork with 2 straws directly underneath it. They are conjoined towards the handle of the fork so that the top of this handle serves as the opening for drinking broth. This design allows for easy picking up of the noodles with the fork while still being able to drink the desired amount of broth with the straws under the fork. Additionally, it avoids the potential discomfort of having the noodles in the way, and there is no risk of broth falling because we can straight up drink the broth using the straw. The straws must also bend to the curve of the fork to ensure the efficient shape of the fork for picking ramen. Compared to the MoMa and TiTo spork, the separation of a spoon and straws allow for more ramen and broth to be consumed rather than infusing a fork and spoon utensil as one. The material we use for this design is stainless steel so we can always wash it over and reuse the tool again. Our inspiration for the item is from other combinations of forks, we see forks and spoons and that’s the combination we saw online. We thought it was hard for you to drink the broth and eat the noodle at the same time so we decide to do a combination of straw and fork which allows us to drink the broth and eat the noodle in an easier way.

Production process:

Not only will the physical design of the combo fork spoon provide much more efficiency and ease in picking up ramen and broth at once, but there are other features that make this combo utensil an appealing item compared to the MoMa spork. To begin, our combo fork spoon would be priced at $15 each, which is much less in price than MoMa’s $27 spork on Amazon. 

  The product itself is about $4.12 and weighs around 850g. Calculating the material cost as well as the labor cost we should be able to sell the item at $15 and make a profit of $5 per set we sold. 

We first buy machines that produce the tool, and we can hire workers that look over the machine and watch the production line going. First, the machine will melt the stainless steel and fill the melted steel into a model that is in the fork shape and the straw shape, after they turn into solid form the machine will combine the fork and the straw together. After the solid form of the fork and straw is made workers will check on the item making sure it’s not defected or damaged. At last, the straw and fork will be bound together with the machine and the FUBE fork will be packed and ready to go.

Conclusion

Overall, our product combined the use of a fork and straw allowing users of this product to have a greater experience in eating ramen and drinking the broth at the same time. The item itself is reusable after washing and this can decrease the use of disposable tableware. The purpose of this item is mainly for ramen eating and we design it based on that specific need.  

Works Cited

“Stainless Steel.” MetalMiner, 5 Apr. 2023, https://agmetalminer.com/metal-prices/stainless-steel/.

Amazon.com: Stainless Steel Forks. https://www.amazon.com/stainless-steel-forks/s?k=stainless+steel+forks.

Amazon.com: Moma Ramen Spoon/Fork : Home & Kitchen. https://www.amazon.com/Ramen-Fork-Spoon-MoMA-Exclusive/dp/B0023T3B0M.

Amazon.com: Stainless Steel Straws: Home & Kitchen. https://www.amazon.com/stainless-steel-straws-Home-Kitchen/s?k=stainless+steel+straws&rh=n%3A1055398.

“How to Produce Stainless Steel Forks with High Quality through the Utensils/Cutlery Production Line.” YouTube, YouTube, 13 Oct. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1cVZlN6qjk&ab_channel=JECCutleryEquipment. Nozari, Elaheh. “How Much Should You Spend on Flatware?” Epicurious, Epicurious, 3 June 2021, https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/how-much-to-spend-on-stainless-steel-flatware-article.