Ramen

Ramen is a Japanese noodle dish that consists of Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat or occasionally fish-based broth. It is often flavored with soy sauce or miso, and uses toppings such as sliced pork, dried seaweed, kamaboko, and green onions.

The origin of ramen is unclear. Some sources say it is of Chinese origin while others say it was invented in Japan in the early 20th century. The name ramen is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese la mian (See previous blog post).

By 1900, restaurants serving Chinese cuisine from Canton and Shanghai offered a simple ramen dish of noodles, a few toppings, and a broth flavored with salt and pork bones. Many Chinese people that live in Japan also pulled portable food stalls, selling ramen and gyōza dumplings to workers. Then by  the mid 1900s, these stalls used a type of a musical horn called a charumera to advertise their presence, a practice some vendors still retain via a loudspeaker and a looped recording. By the early Shōwa period, ramen had become a popular dish when eating out.

In 1958, instant noodles were invented by Momofuku Ando, the Taiwanese-Japanese founder and chairman of Nissin Foods, now run by his son Koki Ando. Named the greatest Japanese invention of the 20th century in a Japanese poll, instant ramen allowed anyone to make this dish simply by adding boiling water.

This became an easy and cheap meal (especially for college students). 

The greatest variation of ramen is its broth and toppings.

The broth is generally made from stock based on chicken or pork, combined with a variety of ingredients such as kelp, skipjack tuna flakes, dried baby sardines, beef bones, shiitake, and onions, and then flavored with salt, miso, or soy sauce. Other styles that have emerged later on include curry ramen and other flavors.

2 Comments on Ramen

  1. Ji Yoon Park
    November 7, 2014 at 12:50 pm (9 years ago)

    Love the pictures you upload! It makes me hungry just by looking at them! I’ve eaten a lot of different types of ramens and think that Japanese has one of the best. It makes me want to go to Japan just to eat food!

  2. Lori Bedell
    November 7, 2014 at 12:34 pm (9 years ago)

    I love this post. You do such a great job of sharing info that we don’t know about things we think we know a lot about. Great use of pictures. In general, your work on this blog is really nice. Keep it up!

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