Russians Are Freezing Noodles Outdoors as the Last Challenge of 2020

If anything sums up the last few years on social media, it is indeed viral challenges. "The Land of the Rus" is no exception.

Inspired by Antarctica-based researchers, many Russians have embraced a quickly growing "tradition" of taking pictures of various frozen foods and other items in the freezing outdoors of Siberia and the Arctic circle. 

RELATED: 7 EXAMPLES TO WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU TRY TO COOK AT -94^oF IN ANTARCTICA

Russia's New New Year's tradition is... taking pictures of frozen stuff

According to The Moscow Times, a new viral challenge is taking Russia by storm. Started as out as the "Instant Noodle Challenge", Russian residents in some of the coldest parts of the country are taking to social media to submit their prized flash-frozen food images. 

While this might sound like an odd thing to want to do at this time of year, some of the images are actually quite impressive. So much so, that some may wish that they could follow suit without having to travel hundreds of miles north (or south) to join in!

J´ai enfin pris le temps de réunir les photos haute définition des aliments et autres surgelés à Concordia (Antarctique) et d´en ajouter quelques autres, comme beaucoup d´entre vous me le demandaient : https://t.co/b8p6qjDa2i pic.twitter.com/YrL4FupFtc

— Cyprien Verseux (@CyprienVerseux) September 4, 2019

This "strange" challenge is not technically Russian in origin, and was inspired by the work of a French-Italian research team stationed in Antarctica back in 2018. These researchers decided to take and post viral images of pasta on a fork frozen in mid-air in the sub-zero temperatures of the continent.

The images quickly became very popular and were quickly adopted by residents of Siberia and Russia's Arctic regions who do not need to travel as far as Antarctica to find similar extreme conditions.

Russians soon began to experiment with other foods too. For some apparent reason, instant noodles became very popular, with a particular brand, Doshirak Noodles (a South Korean ramen brand) becoming one of the most widely used.

 

 

 

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A post shared by Гаврил Старостин (@gavril.starostin)

This winter, as The Moscow Times reports, the viral challenge came back with a vengeance with a photo of a frozen cup of noodles and a soft-boiled egg.

Other braver Russians decided to up the ante and invited their followers to enjoy a Doshirak instant noodle picnic between outdoor swimming sessions at -22°F (-30°C).

But, it didn't stop there.

Other Russians took to social media to share images of many other non-foodstuff frozen pictures. Frozen laundry being one of the most popular.

 

 

 

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A post shared by Владимир Янин (@vavan_new)

Videos of throwing boiling water into the sub-zero air also became quite popular too. 

Images of frozen vehicles in the -40°F (-40°C) climate were also a massive hit. This one we can understand. 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Ｋａｔｅｒｉｎａ Ｂａёｖａ (@katerina_bayova)

With little else to do, perhaps it should come as no surprise that such a challenge would become popular at this time of year. Quite where this challenge will climax is anyone's guess, but knowing the creativity of the people involved in it, we are confident they will come up with some particularly "interesting" takes on this challenge very soon.