The D•eviled E•gg I•nstant Noodle Bowl

Ingredients from different places, offering different flavors, elevating each other.

Over the past year and a half, the federal government has launched the most aggressive rollback of equal opportunity policy in modern American history, and it has done so under the banner of eliminating something it can’t quite bring itself to define.

So let’s speak in whole words and complete sentences.

The acronyms, buzzwords, and political footballs that certain elected officials have turned into a weapon don’t serve us. The actual words, with their actual meanings, should be considered honestly and without the noise.

Diversity. Equity. Inclusion.

On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” directing federal agencies to terminate all equity-related grants, close DEI offices, and eliminate DEI positions across the federal workforce. A second order the following day directed the Attorney General to investigate and penalize DEI practices in the private sector and in educational institutions that receive federal funding.

Since then, the administration has banned DEI practices in the Armed Forces, removed DEI from the Foreign Service, issued an executive order ensuring school discipline policies are “based on objective behavior, not DEI,” and directed that AI models procured by the federal government prioritize what it calls “ideological neutrality.” Most recently, a March 2026 executive order directed federal contractors and subcontractors — including colleges — to certify they will not engage in “racially discriminatory DEI activities” or risk cancellation of their federal contracts.

The administration’s preferred framing for all of this is “merit.” The argument is that DEI programs constitute discrimination in reverse, such that considering diversity in hiring, equity in access, or inclusion in practice is itself a form of bias that undermines individual achievement.

We can have a substantive debate over whether a particular DEI policy has been thoughtfully and fairly implemented. Institutions are imperfect. Programs can be designed well or poorly.

But what’s happening here is different; it’s a systematic effort to make the words themselves radioactive, so that the ideas behind them can be discarded without examination. And the ideas behind them are not complicated.

Diversity.

Do you want everyone around you to look like you, sound like you, think like you, come from the same place as you? That’s a choice you can make at your own kitchen table. But the research on this is not ambiguous. Diverse teams make better decisions. Diverse communities solve harder problems. Diverse perspectives produce better outcomes in medicine, in business, in governance, and in schools. Beyond ideology, this is documented, reproducible, peer-reviewed fact. The argument against diversity is not a practical one. It’s cultural, rooted in comfort with sameness.

Equity.

This is the one that tends to generate the most heat, because people confuse it with equality. Equality means everyone gets the same thing. Equity means everyone gets what they need to have a fair shot. The distinction matters because the starting line has never been the same for everyone — not geographically, not economically, not historically. The argument against equity requires you to believe that the playing field is already level. A brief review of American history suggests otherwise.

Inclusion.

We welcome those with different needs or perspectives from our own. You can hear the language of exclusion from certain elected leaders whenever they blame groups of people for attributes they cannot control — their country of origin, their language, their bodies, their families — to justify limiting their right to exist among us. That is not a policy debate. That is the oldest political strategy in the catalog: find a group, name them as the problem, and offer yourself as the solution. It has never ended well for anyone.

The administration framed all of this as restoring merit. The executive orders describe DEI policies as “dangerous, demeaning, and immoral” and argue they represent “an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system.” Courts have pushed back; a federal district court in Maryland blocked major portions of the initial executive orders, ruling they violated the First and Fifth Amendments by impermissibly targeting the expression of views supportive of equity, diversity, and inclusion. The legal fight continues. But in the meantime, the National Endowment for the Arts canceled hundreds of grants, the National Endowment for the Humanities eliminated roughly 1,200 grants and fired the majority of its staff, and programs serving LGBTQ+ youth suicide prevention were eliminated.

These are not abstractions. These are real programs, real people, real losses — dressed up in the language of fiscal responsibility and merit while the actual work being eliminated is the work of belonging.

I’m a big tent guy. Always have been. The more different the people around my table, the better the conversation. The more varied the ingredients in my bowl, the better the meal.

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Which brings me to this recipe.

This Deviled Egg Instant Noodle Bowl is not a complicated dish. It comes together in about twenty minutes. But what I love about it is that almost every ingredient in it comes from somewhere different: Japanese mirin and soy sauce for the eggs, a Caribbean Sazon seasoning for the broth, a Korean chili crisp if you want a little heat, classic American deviled egg technique tying it all together.

Each one brings something distinct. None of them could carry the bowl alone. And when you give them the space to coexist. When you include them, the result is something that none of them could have produced separately.

It’s a recipe for human kindness, really. The kind that doesn’t require you to give anything up. Just make a little room.

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Deviled Egg Instant Noodle Bowl

Makes 2 Servings

Ingredients

For Deviled Eggs:

• 2 eggs, hard-boiled and cooled to room temp

• 1/3 cup mirin or sweet rice vinegar (for marinating)

• 1/3 cup soy sauce

• 1/3 cup water

• 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

• 1 teaspoons mayonnaise

• 1/2 teaspoon mirin or sweet rice vinegar (for yolks)

• 1/2 teaspoon chili crisp oil (optional)

For Noodle Bowl:

• 2 packages of instant ramen or other instant noodles

• 4 cups water

• 1/2 cup half and half

• 1 packet Sazon seasoning (or the included ramen seasoning packet)

• 1/3 cup green onions, chopped

• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds or furikake, for garnish

• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Marinate the eggs: Combine mirin, soy sauce and water in a small bowl. Peel the eggs and place them into the liquid for at least 15 minutes (or up to 3 hours), turning occasionally if needed to ensure the surface absorbs the liquid evenly.

2. Make the deviled eggs: Remove eggs from the marinade and cut each in half lengthwise. Pop out the yolks and set the egg white halves aside. In a small bowl, add yolks, Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, mirin, chili crisp oil (optional), salt and pepper. Mash until fully incorporated. Spoon four even portions back into the egg white halves. Set aside.

3. Build the broth: In a medium saucepan over high heat, combine 4 cups water, Sazon seasoning (or the included ramen seasoning packet), and half-and-half. Bring to almost a boil, then reduce the heat to medium to maintain a simmer.

4. Cook the noodles: Add instant noodles to the simmering broth and cook according to package directions.

5. Serve: Turn off heat and carefully ladle noodles and broth evenly into two serving bowls. Top each bowl with deviled egg halves. Garnish with chopped green onion and sesame seeds/furikake. Enjoy!

Notes

The longer you marinate the eggs — up to three hours — the deeper the color and flavor, but even just a few minutes makes a visible difference. The Sazon seasoning brings a Caribbean warmth that plays beautifully against the Japanese marinade and the richness of the deviled egg yolks. If you can’t find Sazon, the ramen seasoning packet works fine. The chili crisp in the yolk filling is optional but recommended — it adds just enough heat to remind you it’s there.

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The Dad Briefs covers the civic, political, and quietly human stories that shape family life in America. Food, Fun and Fatherly Wisdom.

Be kind, and … you know.