Ramen
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Ramen (/ɺaːmeɴ/, rāmen: ラーメン, らーめん and occasionally 拉麺) is a Japanese dish of wheat-based noodles and broth originating in China.
Ramen has a variety of toppings such as sliced pork, seaweed, kamaboko, green onions and even corn. Almost every locality or prefecture in Japan has its own variation of ramen, from the tonkotsu rāmen of Kyushu to the miso rāmen of Hokkaido.
Outside of Japan, "ramen" most commonly refers to instant ramen, some well-known brands of which include Sapporo Ichiban, Maruchan and Nissin. A number of North American supermarkets also have their own generic ramen. Despite some health concerns detailed below, instant ramen is a diet staple of university students as well as individuals on a budget—as of 2006, one packet could be bought for as little as 15 cents. Instant ramen is resistant to spoilage and can be easily prepared with boiling water, making it a favorite of backpackers and travelers in conditions offering few technological conveniences.
History
Ramen is a newcomer in Japanese cuisine originating from China. While Tokugawa Mitsukuni reportedly ate ramen in the late 17th century, it was only during the Meiji period that ramen became widely known—perhaps because, for most of its history, the Japanese diet consisted mostly of vegetables and seafood rather than meat. The introduction of American and European cuisine, which demanded increased production of meat products, played a large role in ramen becoming popular.Though of Chinese origin, it is unclear when, from where and by whom ramen was introduced to Japan. Even the etymology of the term "ramen" is a topic of debate. One hypothesis is that "ramen" is the Japanese pronunciation of 拉麺 (lamian), meaning "hand-pulled noodles." A second hypothesis proposes 老麺 ("laomian", "old noodles") as the original form, while yet another states that ramen was initially 鹵麺 (lumian), noodles cooked in a thick, starchy sauce. Finally, others peg 撈麵 (Cantonese: Lo mein, Mandarin: lāo miàn), meaning "stirred noodles," as the origin of "ramen."
(There are also anecdotal origins: one story purports that the name was originally 柳麺 (liumian), meaning "Liu's noodle," with Liu being the cook who ostensibly popularized the dish.)
In the early Meiji period, ramen was called shina soba (支那そば, literally "Chinese soba") but today chūka soba (中華そば, also meaning "Chinese soba") is the more politically correct alternative. By 1900, restaurants serving Chinese cuisine from Canton and Shanghai sold a simple ramen dish of noodles (cut rather than hand pulled), a few toppings, and a broth flavored with salt and pork bones. Many Chinese also pulled portable food stalls and sold ramen and gyōza dumplings to workers. By the mid 1900s, these stalls were using a type of a musical horn called a charumera (チャルメラ, from the Portuguese charamela) 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.
After World War II, cheap flour imported from the U.S. swept the Japanese market. At the same time, millions of Japanese troops had returned from China and continental East Asia. Many of these returnees had become familiar with Chinese cuisine, and subsequently set up Chinese restaurants all across Japan. Eating ramen, while popular, was still a special occasion that required going out.
In 1958, instant noodles were invented by Momofuku Ando, the founder and chairman of Nissin Foods. Named the greatest Japanese invention of the 20th century in a Japanese poll, instant ramen allowed anyone to create this noodle dish simply by boiling water. Beginning in the 1980s, ramen became a Japanese cultural icon and was studied from many perspectives. At the same time, many local varieties of ramen hit the national market and ramen could be ordered by their geographical names.
Types
A wide variety of ramen exists, differing from location to location even when sold under the same name. They can be categorized by the type of ingredients: noodle, soup and topping.
Noodle
Most ramen noodles are made from four basic ingredients: wheat flour, salt, water, and kansui (かんすい). Originally, kansui was water from Inner Mongolia's Lake Kan, which contains large amounts of potassium carbonate and sodium carbonate as well as a small amount of phosphoric acid. Making noodles with kansui lends them a yellowish hue as well as a particular flavor. For a brief time after World War II, low quality kansui that was tainted or thinned with water was sold, though kansui is now manufactured according to JAS standards. Eggs may also be substituted for kansui. Some ramen noodles are made with neither eggs nor kansui, and should only be used for yakisoba.
Ramen noodles come in various shapes and lengths. They may be fat, thin, or even ribbon-like, as well as straight or wrinkled. According to Nissin, there are five traditional types of noodles: "hand-stretched noodle," "oiled and stick-stretched noodle," "cut noodle," "pushed noodle" and "rice noodle."
Soup
Ramen soup is generally divided into four flavors (though these are sometimes mixed together to produce new, original variations): miso, shio, shoyu and tonkotsu. The shio ("salt") flavor is probably the oldest of the four and, like the Chinese maotan (毛湯), is a simple chicken broth. The tonkotsu ("pork bone") flavor is similar to the Chinese baitan (白湯) and is a thick broth made with crushed pork bones that have been boiled for hours. It is a specialty of Kyūshū. The shoyu ("soy sauce") flavor is similar to that of shio ramen, but instead of chicken broth, the stock may be made from konbu (kelp), katsuobushi (fish flakes) and niboshi (dried baby sardines). Miso ramen is a relative newcomer, having reached national prominence around 1965. This uniquely Japanese ramen, which was developed in Hokkaido, features a broth that combines chicken stock with a fermented soybean paste.
Some seasonings commonly added to ramen are black pepper, butter, chile pepper, five-spice powder, garlic, gochujang (from Korean cuisine), sake, vinegar and wine. Soup recipes and methods of preparation are a closely guarded secret in many restaurants.
Toppings
Ramen can be topped with any number of ingredients, such as a raw or boiled egg, menma (fermented and pickled young bamboo), naruto kamaboko, nori, spinach, negi (welsh onion), shiitake or chāshū (char siu, [叉焼] or 焼豚: traditionally a barbecued pork but usually a thinly sliced boiled pork when used as a ramen topping). In most cases, toppings are added after having been already boiled or fried so as to not change the flavor of the soup.Related dishes
Many ramen restaurants also serve gyoza, fried rice, shumai and similar Chinese-derived dishes, which customers frequently order along with ramen. Combinations such as ramen and rice and even kimchi ramen are quite popular.Related (though distinctly different) noodle dishes include Nagasaki champon and Okinawa soba, both made with a wheat-flour noodle resembling those used in ramen. Champon is topped with a variety of ingredients, mostly seafood, and covered in a starchy sauce, while Okinawa soba has chunks of boiled pork, which in some cases have been marinated in awamori liquor.
Gallery
Health concerns of instant ramen
Instant ramen has often been criticized for its potential health risks. Some of these claims are justified, while others could be made against any diet that contains too much of a particular food.
A single serving of instant ramen is high in carbohydrates and low in fiber, vitamins and minerals. Instant ramen is typically fried, which makes it high in saturated fat and/or trans fat. A popular college urban legend states that a student gave himself scurvy by living on nothing but ramen for an entire year. [link]
Ramen broth, especially that of instant ramen, contains monosodium glutamate (MSG) and a high amount of sodium, usually in excess of 60% of the U.S. Recommended Dietary Allowance. The noodles themselves contain little sodium, so one can avoid drinking the soup or use less of the seasoning package if a low-sodium diet is recommended for health reasons.
The most recent controversy surrounds dioxin and other hormone-like substances that could theoretically be extracted from the packaging and glues used to pack the instant noodles. As hot water is added, it was reasoned that harmful substances could seep into the soup. After a series of studies were conducted, this concern was found to be baseless. [[Citing sources citation needed]]
Ramen worldwide
Ramen has become a popular food in many parts of the world, though it has undergone changes in flavor to fit local tastes. Outside Japan, China is the largest consumer of ramen, with Indonesia coming in second.In China
Chinese ramen is called 撈麵 (Cantonese: Lo mein, Mandarin: lā miàn). China is the largest consumer of ramen in the world after Japan. Chinese ramen noodles and ramen instant noodle are popular in China and around the world. It produced and exported to other Asian countries and to North America.In South Korea
South Korean ramen (or ramyeon, 라면) is typically spicy, and only instant ramen is known. Shin (辛, 매울 신) (literally, "hot") is one of the most popular brands in Korea, and has also become popular in China and the United States. The leading manufacturer of ramen in Korea is the Nong Shim company, which exports many of its products overseas. In the 1960s, instant ramen was introduced to South Korea from Japan and its quick and easy preparation, as well as its cheap price, caught on. Most South Korean food stalls make instant ramen and add toppings for their customers. Instant ramen is often added to budaejjigae (literally "boot-camp stew"), a stew made with assorted ingredients, which was invented in the vicinity of U.S. military camps stationed in South Korea in the 1950s.In North America
North American instant ramen comes in a variety of flavors and is usually mild, as opposed to traditional Asian ramen, which is generally flavored with vegetables. Popular flavors in the U.S. include chicken, chicken vegetable, pork, beef, mushroom, shrimp, roast chicken, and roast pork. Other flavors like shoyu and miso are usually available at Asian supermarkets and convenience stores.
In Mexico
Instant ramen is gaining in popularity in Mexico, where it is often seen as an American food and enjoyed in typical "southwestern" flavors such as lime or chili, often combined with shrimp. These flavors are available in the United States, particularly in areas with Mexican and Mexican-American populations, and were probably introduced by migrant workers returning home.
In Russia
Russia's most popular instant ramen, the Korean brand Dosirac, is produced in Ramenskoye, which at first glance appears to mean "the ramen place." However, ramen is actually an obsolete Russian word for chamomile, and the town of Ramenskoye was so named long before ramen production started there.In Malaysia
Ramen is more commonly known as instant noodles in this region. The most popular brand is Maggi by Nestle, and is often synonymous with instant noodles. Flavours are more oriented toward local flavors, such as chicken, curry, Tom Yam, and Assam Laksa. Besides soup-based ramen, there are also dry-type instant noodles.Though Maggi instant noodles are usually eaten at home, some Malaysians choose to order a meal of it when eating outside. These meals are usually modified according to the chef's taste and include a minimum of MSG.
Ramen in fiction
Ramen is nearly ubiquitous in Japanese literary depictions of contemporary life in Japan. In some works, depicting characters with traits relatively infrequent in actual Japanese society, well-known characters are described as liking ramen to the point that it alone forms the bulk of their diet to the exclusion of nearly all other foods. Japanese writers often include a comedy or horror subplot where their main characters go out to eat or cook ramen. Ramen is also used as the object of comedy in many anime and manga such as Naruto, with characters typically getting splashed over the head by a bowl of ramen, or stepping on a bowl of ramen and falling, often taking down another helpless person.
- Ramen is featured in the manga and anime series Naruto, in which it is the favourite food of the main character, Uzumaki Naruto, as well as many of the other characters, including team 7, the ninja squad he is assigned to. In various episodes ramen making is shown. Naruto is also the name of sliced Kamaboko, a staple of Japanese ramen dishes.
- In Bleach anime series, one of the characters, Orihime Inoue, says that "Using chocolate as a ramen topping is really good!".
- The manga Kinnikuman features a character called Ramenman, a Chinese stereotype wrestler, who specialises in martial arts. He was so popular that he had his own spin-off manga series.
- Competition in the ramen restaurant business is at the center of the 1985 Japanese film Tampopo by director Juzo Itami. This humorous yet earnest film is anchored by the protagonists' search for the perfect ramen recipe. Although they continuously bicker over what constitutes the perfect ramen, they all agree people should want to eat it every day.
- In the American gothic comic Johnny the Homicidal Maniac by Jhonen Vasquez, the protagonist, Nny, is the creator of a comic-within-a-comic called Happy Noodle Boy. Happy Noodle Boy likes to eat ramen.
- Hell Ramen was considered the best food in the game Kingdom of Loathing before chow mein was introduced.
- Instant ramen appears in the game , which due to the mid-1960's setting is touted as the food of the future, as well as being one of the best foods in the game.
- Ramen also appears in Tales of Symphonia and .
- Ramen is featured in the series InuYasha, and is the favourite food of the title character, InuYasha.
- In Derek Kirk Kim's graphic novel Same Difference, one of the protagonists, a Korean-American, explains the finer points of eating ramen raw: "Every Korean kid grows up eating raw ramen! It's our Ritz!"
- In the Puffing Tom Arc of the popular manga One Piece, a World Government Chef named Wanze uses ramen as a weapon and body armor.
- Stanford graduate students depicted in the webcomic Piled Higher and Deeper eat mostly instant ramen and whatever free food they can find.
- In the webcomic Megatokyo, main character Largo eats his uncooked instant ramen with a splash or two of milk instead of boiling it in water.
- In the anime and manga Great Teacher Onizuka (also known as GTO), the main character Onizuka practically lives off a diet of instant ramen due to being broke most of the time.
- In the anime and manga Ranma 1/2 ramen plays a role in a number of different stories. From Neko Hanten (AKA Cat Cafe) which serves ramen (usually made by Cologne and delivered by Shampoo), to various episodes based on eating/delivering/winning different types of ramen.
- In the movie The Red Spectacles by Mamoru Oshii, Ramen was made illegal and was eaten in underground restaurants.
Ramen in North American culture
Instant ramen is half-jokingly referred to as a staple food of the typical college student. As noted above, a package of ramen is incredibly cheap for the amount of food it contains. Its low cost, combined with the stereotype of it being a staple of the not-so-well-to-do, has caused instant ramen to be referred to as "Purina student chow," "ghetto noodles" or even "crackhead soup."
During the 2004 U.S. presidential election campaign, filmmaker Michael Moore visited colleges on his "Slacker Uprising Tour" and gave instant ramen and clean underwear to students who promised to vote. This resulted in a short-lived controversy, with the Republican Party accusing him of trying to buy votes.
The parody religion of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism uses the word "ramen" to end its prayers. It is also used when sending a message to sign it.
Long-distance backpackers, often referred to as "through-hikers," enjoy many variations on ramen, since it is lightweight and dense in food energy. A favorite on the Appalachian Trail is an admixture of ramen and instant potatoes.
Instant ramen is also well known in the North American otaku culture as the most commonly consumed food, alongside ramune, for convention-goers. This is especially true for cup ramen, as all that is needed to prepare it is hot water.
See also
- Ramen museum
- Lo mein
- Chinese cuisine
- Japanese cuisine
- Korean cuisine
- Udon
- Soba
- Ie-kei
- Hakata-men
- Hawaiian saimin
- Pot Noodle
- Yakisoba
- List of Japanese instant noodles
- Cup Noodles
External links
- [World Ramen.net]
- [Photos of ramen from the Okayama and other regions of Japan]
- [International Ramen Manufacturers Association]
- [The Official Ramen Homepage]
- [Straight Dope Staff Report: What's the deal with ramen noodles?]
- [ramenramenramen.net]
- [Cookin with Nimmo - Video Podcast about Ramen/Instant Noodles]
- [link] Ordinary soy sauce ramen.
- [link] Ordinary soy sauce ramen with a lot of Welsh onion.
- [link] Ordinary ramen with a broth of pig's marrow, chicken and fish.
- [link] Old-style marrow soy sauce ramen.
- [link] Old-style marrow ramen.
- [link] Ramen of Ooita, Kyushu.
- [link] Many photos. Making soup.
- [link] Ordinary noodles for home cooking.
- [link] Kevin Horton's page of assorted instant ramen and other noodles.
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