For The Love Of Ramen
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Growing up in the UK, I'd only ever been exposed to our insipid version of instant noodles. The bland flavourless packet or pot noodle simply didn't appeal to me. Even as a student, when a staple of your diet is supposed to be the cheap snack food, I still avoided them. That all changed when I moved to South Korea. Back in early 2006, I took a job teaching English in the city of Suwon, close to Seoul. Originally the plan was to only go for a year, but ended up staying nearly 7 years. In that time I was luck enough to travel throughout Asia and got to fulfil a life-time ambition of visiting Japan. It was during my time living in South Korea that I developed an appreciation for ramen (ramyun in Korean), as a truly wonderful and versatile snack food. To be eaten any time, day or night, usually late at night! As an addition to traditional stews. What would budae jjigae (부대찌개), the famous Korean "army stew", be without a packet of ramen thrown into it?
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The History Of Ramen
Now not to be confused here, I am only talking about the instant noodles, not the plethora of fresh made styles of wheat-noodle soups that are also called ramen that exist across Japan. They existed long before the instant version came along, and until the 1950s were called shina soba, which literally means "Chinese buckwheat" and refers to the type of noodle. In 1958, Momofuku Ando a Taiwanese-Japanese entrepreneur and and now folk hero, invented and introduced the packet ramen (ラーメン) noodle that has become famous throughout the world. The now well known dehydrated brick of pressed noodles was chicken flavoured, and was called (not unsurprisingly) Chikin Ramen. Momofuku Ando ran Nissin Foods, based in Osaka, which still produces the instant noodle to this day. He died in 2007, aged 96. He always claimed his long life was down to his love of ramen, supposedly he ate them almost everyday until the day he died. The first ever ramen museum was opened in Osaka and dedicated to him. There is also a Cup Noodle Museum in Yokohama. In the 1980s ramen was recognised as cultural icon, and was named the greatest Japanese invention of the 20th century. |
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The Birth Of Cup Noodles
In 1970 Momofuku Ando went to the United States on a business trip, in the hope of introducing the Top Noodle brand into the country. He realised that Americans didn't have the right kind of bowls, for eating his instant snack food. Being served coffee in a Styrofoam cup was the spark of inspiration he needed to introduce the now world renowned form of buying and consuming noodles for many, and so Cup Noodles were born. Unfortunately Nissin Foods produced ramen flavours tailored for Western tastes (in my opinion a mistake), as the concept of these instant noodles was foreign they didn't want to further complicate things with Asian flavours! They were quickly introduced into the United States in 1971, under the name Cup 'O Noodles. The development of the cup also lead people to microwave their ramen from cold. Another mistake, as Nissin Foods themselves say that ramen should always be made with fresh boiling water for best results. |
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Freedom Project
To celebrate their 35th anniversary in 2006, Nissin Foods created a promotional project, which consisted of a 7 part sc-fi anime series shown on Japanese TV. Freedom Project was designed by Katsuhiro Otomo, the famous manga artist and film director. Who is better known for his ground-breaking manga series and the movie based on it, Akira (1988). The series is directed by Shuhei Morita, creator of the stunning animation short Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek (2004). Throughout the series can be seen Cup Noodles product placement, with characters eating the iconic noodles. |
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Shin Ramyun
As I mentioned at the beginning, I lived in South Korea, and so am loyal to Korean style ramen. The king of instant noodles in South Korea is Shin Ramyun (신라면). The logo (as seen on my T-shirt earlier) is the Hanja character "辛", pronounced "shin", which means "new" in Korean. Produced by the Nong Shim company, in both cup form and packet form. It is the packet form that is the most superior. Why? Because you must cook them properly (remember the aluminium Korean ramen pot at the beginning?) The company even cleverly produced a round brick of noodles, that fits perfectly into the pan. The unique spicy flavour was developed by Nong Shim's research labs, to create what has become the number one instant noodle brand in South Korea, and iconic among Koreans. Shin Ramyun now sells around the world, developing a cult following among those who have tasted the glories of this perfection in instant noodles. And the reason I sat down wrote this eulogy to the humble instant noodle. |
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