Whether it was in a college dorm room, or simply scraping up money for groceries as a young adult,
you've probably tried instant ramen. But that's hardly real ramen. From
its history as a post-WWII staple to its popularity amongst prison inmates,
this is the story of some amazing Asian noodles we know as ramen.
Who would ever want to accept a seat at a restaurant that had rows of guests around them
slurping their meals loud enough to register on the Richter scale?
That environment would warrant a swift, "No thanks!" The sound of munching down a
meal immediately turns plenty of people off. But, if you find yourself in a ramen joint,
brace yourself for a slurpathon rivaled by no other type of restaurant in the world.
Those who aren't accustomed to the delightful world of ramen would easily see the slurping as
rude. However, there's actually a very good reason for the seemingly annoying action.
Since ramen is served steaming hot, immediately thrusting a mouthful of
broth-soaked noodles into your mouth is a bad idea.
What the slurping does, however, is allows the noodles to not only cool off but aerate, as well,
and this helps immensely to release all the subtle flavors hidden deep within the spiced broth.
So, the next time you're served a bowl of ramen,
put your table manners aside for a bit and slurp that dish loud and proud.
Many foodies don't just love exploring new and unique dishes for the flavor.
Sure, diving into something new is always exciting, but the history behind a dish is
equally as fascinating. Discovering how and why a culture came to adopt a specific flavor profile
is often wrought with rich tradition or major societal turning points,
and it's enough to leave any history buff foaming at the mouth with curiosity.
Ramen has long been associated with Japanese culture, but there is evidence that ramen
was actually created by the Chinese. The water surrounding the history is murky,
but it's equally as intriguing. George Solt, an assistant history professor at New York University
and author of The Untold History of Ramen, has a pretty solid theory on how Japan
eventually took over as ramen country. According to his research,
a customs agent who worked in Japan's Yokahoma Chinatown opened a ramen shop in 1910.
The restaurant had mostly Chinese cooks who cranked out a noodle dish,
which became super popular with blue-collar Japanese workers. So popular, in fact,
that after World War II decimated Japan's food supply, one of the first meals to make
a comeback in the country was ramen. Upscale Japanese restaurants started serving it once
they found their post-war footing, and it soon became a national dish of Japan.
One phrase you'll likely never hear someone use to describe their college experience is "financially
prosperous." Unless you have a trust fund waiting for you when you graduate high school,
you quickly learn how to pinch pennies when you leave your parent's nest for four years.
And, one of the biggest expenses you learn to curb is food. This is why
so many college kids discover the monetary benefits of an instant ramen diet early on
so they have more money for the important stuff… like booze.
What instant ramen fanatics would never suspect, however, is when the product first hit supermarket
shelves in 1958, it wasn't advertised as a cheap way to eat. It was actually the opposite.
Throughout the early 70s, advertisers pushed ramen towards middle-class women and kids.
The noodles were seen as a hearty and nutritious way to feed a nuclear family,
and plenty of households basked in the tasty glory. Over the years, however,
the dish evolved to the cheap and easy dinners stacked tall in most dorm rooms around the world.
Not all of us can fake excitement as we stroll through the halls of a museum. But, even people
prone to extreme boredom during a museum adventure would probably find it interesting
that there's an entire museum dedicated to — you guessed it! — ramen. The sheer quirkiness of the
concept is enough to draw a crowd, and the Cup Noodles Museum in Osaka, Japan, does just that.
That's right. There's a whole building focused solely on the progression of
instant ramen noodles, starting with the creation of instant chicken ramen in 1958.
During their visit to museum, guests freely roam the halls and read up on how those classy
styrofoam-cupped noodles came to be a huge hit. The museum's not just full of decorative plaques
explaining historical significances, either; there are attractions and exhibitions, as well.
You might find yourself perched on a seat watching a show unfold inside the Cup Noodles
Drama Theater. Or, better yet, posted up in the Tasting Room for a delicious post-tour treat.
Also, hit the gift shop before you leave. You wouldn't want to return
home without proof you visited one of the most unconventional museums in the world.
You are what you eat, as the saying goes, and unfortunately, even if you're obsessed with
the taste of instant ramen noodles, its nutrition facts are daunting enough to send any doctor into
hiding. Food that's super cheap is an immediate indicator it's likely pumped full of artificial
ingredients that won't run up a check for any company. Natural stuff — although way
more efficient in the body — is much more costly, so corner-cutting is often the name of the game.
When it comes to instant ramen, those corners of health are completely avoided altogether
and replaced with large amounts of sodium and a synthetic chemical called TBHQ, which is not
a natural chemical in humans. So, unless you plan on eating a healthy dose of veggies or fruits with
your noodles, it's best not to settle on this item as a go-to dish for any kind of nutritional value.
Any dietician will tell you there are four distinct flavor profiles the tongue perceives:
sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. These are the four sensations our mouths pick up on as we eat.
However, there's actually a fifth profile that often goes unmentioned:
umami. Don't worry if you never heard the word before — many people haven't.
Umami is one of those sensations that overloads our palates so often
we don't even think to acknowledge it. But, ramen chefs around the world know
this savory flavor profile outshines the others by many miles. The word "umami"
literally translates to "delicious taste" in Japanese. It describes the savory flavor of
food that kicks our salivary glands into action with a rich and hearty mouthfeel.
That sensation is caused by MSG. While boatloads of MSG certainly isn't what
you want to constantly pump your body full with, the occasional venture is delicious.
A lot of Chinese cuisine actually uses MSG to enhance the taste of their dishes.
While there is a belief that even a small amount of MSG is harmful, plenty of chefs around the
world embrace the savory flavor profile that keeps their patrons smiling while they dine.
We all know the purpose of prison is to deprive inmates of their freedom in order
to punish them for their criminal behavior. While nearly everything about their life before
incarceration is stripped away, there are a few aspects that remind them of the outside
world. Many prisons have snack bars where inmates can purchase things like coffee,
candy, and toiletries. All of those are hot commodities, as you can imagine, but at New
York City's Rikers Island few prison foods are as popular with prisoners as instant ramen noodles.
A spokesperson for the Department of Corrections said in an interview,
that the 35-cent meal is a top seller. In 2009 alone 838,267 packs were sold throughout all
of the city's jails! But, funny enough, many of the inmates don't even eat the noodles.
They'll toss away the hardened squares and keep the seasoning packets to sprinkle
on other dishes instead. Regardless of whether or not the noodles are consumed,
they still sell like hotcakes. And, when you're locked up, you have to take whatever you can get.
It's quite the conundrum to choose between a hearty burger for dinner
or an umami-packed bowl of ramen. Both absolutely hit the hunger spot perfectly,
but unless you have a Joey Chestnut-like appetite, you'll have to settle for just one.
It's a predicament no one likes finding themselves in. But, as if the food gods
themselves came down from their culinary clouds and blessed the Earth, you can enjoy
both in one meal. Ladies and gentlemen, give a warm welcome to the ramen burger.
"So far so good?"
"Ohhhh my god."
So, how exactly does a ramen burger work? Simple! Instead of a bun,
two circular ramen patties sandwich the burger and fixings. This ingenious idea
was thought up by a Japanese-American chef named Keizo Shimamoto in 2013,
and he first introduced it to the world at the Smorgasburg food market in Brooklyn, New York.
It was an instant hit, and soon ramen burgers popped up all over the place.
Shimamoto described his creation perfectly:
"It's a tad crispy on the outside, and inside, it's still chewy.
When you bite into it, the ramen separates in your mouth, rather than in your hand."
If you never had the pleasure of trying one,
do yourself a favor and indulge. You might never look at a burger the same way again.
Any time you hear the words "instant noodles," it's easy to immediately think of those packets
of ramen. They are instant after all, and they're definitely noodles. However, unless the product
actually says "ramen" on it, the noodles are something else entirely. Sure, they're both noodle
soups, but the non-ramen kind is mass manufactured and includes packets of seasoning, whereas
traditional ramen is made fresh and the seasoning is already embedded into the dish's broth.
The man behind instant noodles was Momofuku Ando,
and the creation occurred in his shed in 1958 after learning how to properly dehydrate them.
The entire idea came about during a massive food shortage in Japan due to the devastation World
War II caused. It was a little pricey at first, but costs went down once he mass-produced them.
It was a genius way for noodle-lovers to get their hands on the dish without having to go
to a restaurant and shell out a pretty penny. Every college-aged student owes
you infinite thanks, Mr. Ando. You've done their stomachs and wallets a great service.
"This is really good."
Okay, so you love ramen. We get it. The stuff is deliciously addicting. Let's say you've
eaten your way through every top ramen joint in the country and tried every variation of
ingredients imaginable. Maybe you've eaten so much of it you need to experience it through
a different medium entirely. Well, you're in luck. If you do so desire to explore a night
of ramen through an alternate lens, you can look to cinema to scratch that itch.
In 2008, the late Brittany Murphy starred in a feature film called The Ramen Girl,
and it's a fascinating tale about the trials and tribulations of a young
girl trying to cut her teeth inside a ramen shop. Murphy plays a privileged, but aimless,
college graduate who moves out to Tokyo to join her boyfriend and start a life together overseas.
Soon after the move, however, her boyfriend dips out to Osaka, leaving her in Tokyo, much to her
dismay. Despite the struggles of speaking barely any Japanese and working at a boring law firm,
she finds happiness in ramen served at a local shop and tries to cut it as a ramen apprentice.
The film didn't exactly become a giant blockbuster and earned less than $200,000,
however, it does have a respectable IMDb score of 6.3.
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