Interview: Top Ramen & Gatorade Video Makers Are Not On A Crusade Against Processed Food

Last week, this video of what happens in your body when you eat Top Ramen and other processed foods like Gatorade went viral on the internet, causing our stomachs to turn with images from a unique ‘M2A’ capsule (that’s mouth-to-anus) revealing just how long it takes to digest processed food versus homemade. But the video’s creators aren’t just out to scare you away from instant soup: Stefani Bardin (the voice you hear in the video) is a media maker working between video, film, installation and performance, Dr. Braden Kuo, her partner-in-crime, is a gastroenterologist. To find out more about their mission, we went straight to the source and interviewed them.

Check out what they have to say:

Your video has gotten over half a million hits, and it’s the most popular video on Huffington Post right now. How does that make you feel?

SB: I made this small video at the request of Diane Hatz, organizer of TEDx Manhattan because I wasn’t able to be there to speak about this project. It was created especially for that small audience and to say I’m surprised is a total and complete understatement. Frankly, it’s surreal. But we are glad it’s at least getting people talking.

Tons of people, including at least one celebrity we know of, have been tweeting that they’re never eating top ramen again after seeing this video. Are you on a mission to get people off processed foods?

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SB: It’s less about telling people what to eat than hoping to share information about what’s in their food, where it comes from and how it’s manufactured. What people eat is a personal choice.

However, a lot of this information is not obvious or even available on the labels or even on the websites of a lot of these companies. We’re not advocating for people to not eat Top Ramen ever but maybe it’s something that should not be eaten every day.

After the earthquake in Japan last year, packaged Ramen fed a lot of hungry and displaced people; that’s a great thing and should not be overlooked. But, the argument that it’s cheaper than whole foods is more than valid and part of this project is to hopefully get more people to talk about and maybe change this horrible inequity. Why is processed, manufactured food so much cheaper than fruits and vegetables? It’s not fair to a huge swath of the population and there needs to be more legislation in place that for example subsidizes healthy foods rather than corn and soy that end up in most of products we buy and eat. I’m also a believer in moderation and a lot of these “processed foods” fall under that category.

Are you both health nuts? What do you eat?

SB: I’m mindful of what I eat but I enjoy food too much to be neurotic about it. In my own home I make very specific decisions about what I buy and where it comes from. But when I leave the house I’m pretty relaxed about it, especially when I go to someone’s house – I’ll eat or at least taste whatever they’ve made. It’s the context that’s important.

BK: I am not a “health nut” and do not pay specific attention to where my food is from and how it is processed. I try to eat in a mindful manner by watching my caloric and fat intake.

At the end of your video we see images from other videos. What else have you recorded with the M2A and smart pill?

BK: Our research project examines the differences in digestion between a similar ramen meal with a beverage and gummy bear dessert where the differences are in the additives and processing. Healthy people serve as their own controls consuming both meals in the same manner with the same measurements but at separate times. pH, pressure and temperature data along with images while the food is being digested are being collected to determine if there is any impact on measureable parameters of digestion such as gut contractions, gut transit of the meal, and efficiency of digestion. But the data is far too preliminary for presentation other than some of these images which serve as a stimulus for discussion.

Dr. Kuo, as a gastroenterologist, it seems like you’d already know all about what happens to food in our digestive tracts. Were you surprised by these videos?