🍜Ramen: Selling the slurp

[Quartz Obsession] Ramen March 07, 2018 Noodle nerdery --------------------------------------------------------------- There’s something satisfyingly transgressive about a good slurp. In Asia, it’s often the proper way to consume noodle-soup dishes: Recent [“noodle harassment” controversies]( aside, it’s a well-established cultural fact that eating them quietly is unusual and inhibits true enjoyment. When it comes to ramen, ubiquitous food porn videos and insanely long restaurant lines might give the impression that the Japanese dish has a long tradition of craftwork. But the truth is, this humble delicacy was only recently elevated to an art form. In Japan, before the 1990s, ramen was known as a factory-made fast-food lunch—and to many in the US, it was a just-add-water dorm-room staple. But when Japanese chefs began to pay close attention to ramen, they shaped a culture of fascination and artisanship, called kodawari (literally “obsession”), around the humble noodle. Today, ramen has captured hearts and stomachs around the world. Compared to sushi or soba, ramen is for the everyman—a cheap soul food elevated to global phenomenon through intense food nerdery. 🐦 [Tweet this]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( By the digits [130:]( Recommended grams of noodle per bowl, according to ramen chef Ivan Orkin [4-13 minutes:]( Time it takes Japanese ramen-eaters to finish a bowl [40,000:]( Ramen shops in Tokyo in 2014 [Â¥500-800 ($4.70-7.50):]( Typical cost of a bowl in Tokyo [$13-16:]( Typical cost of a bowl in New York City [800:]( Bowls of ramen eaten by ramen critic Hiroshi Osaki each year [$38 million:]( Amount it cost to build Japan’s Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum [2:]( Number of ramen restaurants that have received a Michelin star [Â¥14,800 ($130):]( Price of Nissin’s crowd-funded noise-disguising fork, designed to mask the sound of slurping noodles Brief history 19th century: Ramen comes to Japan as an adaptation of Chinese wheat-flour noodles, or lamian (not to be confused with lo mein). 1940s: Regional varieties of ramen began popping up all over Japan. During its occupation at the end of World War II, the US brought in wheat, enabling noodle production. According to George Solt, author of [The Untold History of Ramen: How Political Crisis in Japan Spawned a Global Food Craze]( the move was political: “The more Japan experienced food shortages, the more people would gravitate towards the Communist Party,” [he told the New Yorker.]( 1958: The first packaged instant chicken ramen, from [Momofuku Ando]( company Nissin, hits shelves in Japan. Party fact: “In Japan, the dish was embraced widely as a practical emergency food after a live television broadcast of a hostage standoff, seen by almost ninety per cent of television viewers, showed policemen eating cupped ramen in sub-zero temperatures as they waited for the hostage to be released,” [according to the New Yorker](. 1972: Cup Noodles arrive in the US. [1996:]( Noodle nerds started posting their ramen reviews online, and copycat chefs who pilfered recipes were exposed. More original chefs put their efforts toward original broth recipes. [2004:]( American chef David Chang opened Momofuku Noodle Bar (named for Momofuku Ando) in New York City, redefining the dish for the foodie masses who lined up to eat his hand-torn noodles and braised-pork buns, and inspiring legions of imitators around the world. Pop quiz Which of these isn’t an instant ramen flavor? Rice Fettucine Chicken Pho FlavorFlaming Hot Savoury Cheese Noodle FlavorChicken Taco FlavorArtificial Abalone Beef Flavor Correct. Not that we know of, anyway. Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. What's so special about a bowl of ramen? --------------------------------------------------------------- Ramen uses wheat-flour noodles, which are usually placed in a fatty broth, with pork, green onions, bamboo, and a poached egg as common companions. Ramen noodles’ distinct springiness comes from kansui, a bicarbonate also known as alkaline salt. It’s said that the farther north you go in Japan, the springier the noodles get. Unlike more traditional Japanese foods, with preparation dictated by rigid rules, ramen comes in a plethora of styles. Noodles can be thick or thin, wavy or straight, and the broth can be any number of flavors: tonkotsu (rich pork broth), miso (fermented soy bean), shio (salt), shoyu (soy sauce), chuka soba (Chinese style), tsukemen (with dipping sauce on the side). Quotable “I can’t say that the noodles or soup should be one way or another. If that were the case, ramen would stop evolving. I want ramen to keep improving. Sushi and soba are very traditional, so it’s hard to introduce a new style. Ramen can change.” — ramen critic Hiroshi Osaki, [in]( Ramen]( Sho-you a thing or two But how do you eat it? --------------------------------------------------------------- The most important rule of eating ramen is haste. Don’t dilly-dally or catch up with an old friend between bites. Receive your bowl, immediately pull some noodles free, grab them with your teeth, and inhale the pile up into your mouth. Don’t mix the ingredients around, wait for the noodles to cool down, or cut the noodles with your teeth and dump them back into the bowl. Loud slurping cools the noodle, lets you appreciate the aroma, and is fun. ([The practice of slurping]( potentially dates to the rise of soba street stalls in the late 1600s, during the Edo period.) Speed is important, because, like many noodle-soup dishes, ramen gets worse with time as the noodles absorb water, expand, and lose their consistency. When you’re done eating, you can drink the broth, picking up the bowl and bringing it directly to your mouth, if you like. Watch this! Noodle cowboys --------------------------------------------------------------- The 1985 film Tampopo (subtitled “A ramen western”) satirized self-serious ramen chefs. The title character is a mediocre maker of noodles who enlists a merry band of men to help her become a respected ramen chef. “A parody of the epicure’s fetishistic rapture in obscure delights,” [wrote the Washington Post]( in 1987. Department of jargon “Tsuru tsuru,” means “slippery or smooth,” and is also an onomatopoeia for the sound of slurping noodles. Take me down this 🍜 hole! Noodle voyeurism --------------------------------------------------------------- Eating ramen is nice. But what about watching someone else do it? For hours? Mukbang is a video trend in South Korea that involves people, often small women, stuffing their faces for half an hour. Watch Shoogi [eat a great deal of pork and instant ramen]( as she interacts with fans live. Poll How do you eat your ramen? [Click here to vote]( I strive to be the loudest slurper in the room.I like to chat and let the noodles get soggy.Just in it for the pork. The fine print In yesterday’s poll about “[the nose]( and the fragrance industry, 45% of you said you personally keep it musky. Today’s email was written by [Thu-Huong Ha]( edited by [Jessanne Collins]( and produced by [Luiz Romero.]( Images: AP Photo/Diane Bondareff, Reuters/Issei Kato, Reuters/Yuya Shino, Reuters/Kim Kyung Hoon, Reuters/Yuya Shino sound off ✏️ [What did you think of today’s email?](mailto:obsession%2Bfeedback@qz.com?cc=&subject=Thoughts%20about%20ramen.%20&body=) 💡 [What should we obsess over next?](mailto:obsession%2Bideas@qz.com?cc=&subject=Obsess%20over%20this%20next.&body=) 📬 [Forward this email to a friend](mailto:replace_with_friends_email@qz.com?cc=obsession%2Bforward@qz.com&subject=Ramen%3A%20the%20working-class%20dish%20that%E2%80%99s%20become%20a%20global%20foodie%20phenomenon%20over%20the%20last%20decade.&body=Thought%20you%27d%20enjoy.%20%0A%0ARead%20it%20here%20http%3A%2F%2Fqz.com%2Femail%2Fquartz-obsession%2F1223548%2F%0ASign%20up%20for%20the%20newsletter%20at%20http%3A%2F%2Fqz.com%2Fquartz-obsession) The correct answer to the quiz is Artificial Abalone Beef Flavor. 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