Photo of the Day (9/6/07)

by Neil Woodburn on

A few weeks ago we published a photo of Ronald McDonald in Bangkok assuming a traditional Thai pose. Not to be outdone, Colonel Sanders has donned a traditional Japanese kimono to appeal to finger lickin’ customers somewhere in Japan.

Ah yes, the chameleon-like abilities of fast food spokespersons continually amaze me.

Thanks go out to PixelSkew for capturing the colonel in this particular incarnation and sharing it with us.

If you’d like one of your shots to be considered for Photo of the Day, pay a visit to our Gadling Flickr Pool and upload away — fast food mascots greatly appreciated.

Big in Japan: An Ode to Ramen (Part III)

by Matthew Firestone on

This week, Big in Japan will be bringing you a four-part series on the most perfect of foods. Part I of the series aimed to debunk the myth of ramen as being mere instant noodles. Part II of the series traced the hundreds of years of history behind this savory snack. Today’s column will break down the different varieties of ramen noodles and stock.

I really, really love ramen.

If you think about it, variety is indeed the spice of the life, especially in the kitchen. In the modern era of Pan-Asian, Latin Fusion and Nuevo American, we are all secretly becoming closet gourmands. Of course, all of these self-aggrandizing culinary styles can’t match the sheer variety of flavors and styles of ramen, Nature’s most perfect food.

Still think a bowl of ramen is just soup and noodles? Don’t believe me that no two bowls of ramen are created equally? Allow me to educate you on the high culinary art that is ramen.

Truth be told, ramen does consist of soup and noodles, though this is a gross simplification to say the least.

In regards to the noodles, ramen is made from four key ingredients: wheat flour, salt, water, and a type of mineral water known as kansui (かんすい). Just like New York City bagels get their taste from the local tap water, ramen noodles get their yellowish color and firm texture from kansui. Without kansui, which is bottled according to rigorous government standards, ramen noodles would be mere noodles.

As with fine Italian pasta, the best ramen is always homemade. At real ramen shops, fresh noodles will be made on the premises, and cut according to the chef’s preferred style. Thick or thin and flat or wavy, the shape of the noodle is pivotal. Needless to say, everyone has their own favorite type, though I swear by thick, wavy noodles, which manage to soak up the soup like no other.

The basis of ramen soup is chicken or pork stock, though chefs add everything and anything from tuna flakes, apples, kelp, seaweed, miso paste, dried sardines, wild mushrooms, onions, soy sauce, sake, etc. As you can imagine, the exact recipe of a given ramen stock is closely guarded, and the best ramen chefs inherit the trade secret from their parents and grandparents.

Generally speaking, ramen soup can be divided into four categories:

Shio (salt, 塩) The most basic and traditional of ramen stocks is light in color, and is the Japanese equivalent of your grandma’s chicken soup.

Shōyu (soy sauce, 醤油) The next step up in complexity, this extremely popular ramen stock is made by adding soy sauce to shio broth, and is medium to dark in color.

Tonkotsu (pork bone, 豚骨) Cloudy white and unmistakable in appearance, this comfort food is made with pork bones that have been crushed and boiled down.

Miso (fermented soybean paste, みそ) A unique Japanese creation, this dark and creamy stock is a rich blend of shio broth and miso paste.

In Part IV, I’ll highlight a few regional specialties, and share some of my own recipes.

Getting Hungry? Check out our delicious photo gallery of Japanese food. %Gallery-6477%

** Special thanks to Flickr users ngader (damn good ramen), malias (a steaming cauldron) and akakumo (kimchi beef ramen) **

Big in Japan: An Ode to Ramen (Part II)

by Matthew Firestone on

This week, Big in Japan will be bringing you a four-part series on the most perfect of foods. Part I of the series aimed to debunk the myth of ramen as being mere instant noodles. Today’s column will trace the hundreds of years of history behind this savory snack.

I really love ramen.

I mean, how many other foods out there are the products of centuries of culinary revision? How many other foods out there crossed oceans of antiquity on multiple occasions? How many other foods out there have been adapted and re-adapted to local tastes time and again?

Bananas may have colonized the New World, coffee may have catapulted itself out of Arabia and salt may have built empires. But, none of these foods hits the spot quite like a steaming bowl of miso ramen topped with minced garlic and fresh bean sprouts.

The history and lore behind Nature’s most perfect food is worthy of textbooks.

Originating in China, scholars debate exactly when this hardiest of noodles was first introduced to Japan. Although it may have crossed over at several times during the history of Japan, the first recorded record of ramen-eating was in the late 17th century by the shogunate of the Tokugawa.

Needless to say, the Tokugawa dynasty was the first to unify Japan, so I think the connection between ramen noodles and empire-building is obvious.

Of course, ramen was not introduced to the Japanese masses until the Meiji era when the country first opened its doors to foreign interests. For most of Japan’s history, the diet consisted simply of steamed rice, vegetables and seafood, which is partly to explain why the country suddenly became incessant gourmands in the late 19th century.

During the Meiji era, American and European cuisine became the height of fashion, which sparked a large cattle- and pork-rearing industry in Japan. However, the real culinary revolution of the late 19th century was taking place in the Chinatowns of Kobe and Yokohama, where Chinese immigrants opened up food stalls in the busy ports. Here, along with gyōza (dumplings, ギョーザ), another one of my favourite dishes, Japanese commoners tasted their first bowls of sweet, delicious ramen.

As history will have it, World War II put something of a damper on the Japanese obsession with eating gourmet, though the food industry was quick to bounce back. In the 1950s, cheap US flour imports flooded the Japanese market, while ex-soldiers who had previously been in China proceeded to set up ramen shops across the country. In a few short years, ramen shops took Japan by storm, becoming something of a neighborhood landmark.

Much like McDonald’s in 1950s America, a family trip to the ramen shop was good eating.

The 1950s also brought about the invention of the instant noodle at the hands of the late Momofuku Ando, founder and chairman of Nissin Foods. Now, I don’t want to diminish the accomplishments of what has been regarded as one of the greatest Japanese inventions of the 20th century. After all, it’s Ando’s noodles that swept the world and the made ramen a household name. But, as I’ve no doubt tried my hardest to explain to you the reader, instant noodles are not ramen.

Still don’t believe me? In Part III, I discuss the varieties and flavors of ramen that you can find in Japan. In Part IV, I’ll highlight a few regional specialties, and share some of my own ramen recipes.

Getting Hungry? Check out our delicious photo gallery of Japanese food. %Gallery-6477%

** Special thanks to Flickr users kk+ (Noodle Chef) and Joey-Tigger (Cup o’Noodles) **

Big in Japan: An Ode to Ramen (Part I)

by Matthew Firestone on

This week, Big in Japan will be bringing you a four-part series on the most perfect of foods.

I love ramen.

For some, it’s the heady aroma and subtle flavor of a finely aged cheese. For others, it’s the enticing sizzle and juicy goodness of a T-bone steak.

For me, it’s gotta be ramen – Nature’s most perfect food.

Now, I know exactly what you’re thinking. Ramen?!?! That cheap, instant ‘just add hot water’ garbage that they sell at the supermarket for ten cents a pack. That high-salt, high-fat, chemically-flavored staple food of starving and poor college kids the world over. That Styrofoam-packaged and MSG-coated food-like product that is about as nutritious as it is natural.

Well, let’s just say that you don’t know ramen like I know ramen!

Forget everything you think you know, and allow me to explain to you how ramen is SO much more than Cup o’Noodles.

For starters, Japanese instant noodles were first imported to North America in the 1970s, and since then have been commonly been referred to as ramen. In the 1980s, American manufacturers jumped on the bandwagon, and started marketing instant noodles as a cheap and filling food item for people on a budget. Needless to say, ramen has achieved cult status amongst teenagers and college students, who can eat their fill for less than a $1 a day.

Sadly, few people outside Japan have had the truly sublime experience of eating REAL ramen, which is nothing at all like the instant noodle garbage found at your local neighborhood supermarket.

Let’s start at the beginning.

Ramen (rāmen, ラーメン, らーめん or 拉麺) is a Japanese dish of boiled noodles that is typically served in hot broth, and garnished with a variety of toppings including sliced pork, hard-boiled eggs, garlic, green onions, bean sprouts and dried seaweed. Originating from China, ramen has been whole-heartedly adopted by Japan over centuries, and presently appears in a multitude of regional varieties and specialties.

Much like choosing a fine French wine or a particular Italian pasta, the allure of eating ramen is that there is a seemingly endless variety of dishes out there. Ramen noodles can be found in a dizzying assortment of shapes, sizes and thicknesses, while the broth can consist of anything from clear chicken to pork stock and chili to miso soup.

While the love of ramen may be the great social equalizer in Japan, it’s the toppings that distinguish your trucker’s stop noodles from your boutique bowl in Ginza. Indeed, ramen has undergone a number of transformations in recent years, and is now just as much as working-class staple as it is a high-end delicacy.

Still think ramen is nothing more than instant noodles?

So, stop by ‘Big in Japan’ this week for an in-depth look at the world of ramen. In Part II, I’ll trace the history of ramen from China to Japan. In Part III, I’ll discuss the numerous varieties and flavors of ramen that you can find in Japan. In Part IV, I’ll highlight a few regional specialities, and share some of my own ramen recipes.

Getting Hungry? Check out our delicious photo gallery of Japanese food. %Gallery-6477%

** Special thanks to Flickr users adactio (ramen) and heyjoewhereyougoingwiththatguninyourhand (99 cent ramen) shibainu (don don men)**

Big in Japan: Hello Kitty and the Culture of Cute (Part II)

by Matthew Firestone on

This post is the continuation of yesterday’s column on Hello Kitty and the Culture of Cute.

You don’t have to look too hard in Japan to find something cute.

From ruffled clothing and dollhouse shoes to smiling mascots and anime characters, evidence of kawaisa (cuteness, ??????) is everywhere in Japan. Even beyond consumer goods, being cute has become something of a national obsession, with women (and increasingly men) of all ages striving to achieve their own unique expression of kawaisa.

Surprisingly, cute culture is increasingly being accepted as a part of the national identity. Indeed, there is a growing sense of pride in the fact that cute things are immediately thought of as being ‘Japanese.’

In recent years, kawaisa has even been successfully exported to neighboring Asian countries and to a lesser extent the West. Beyond Hello Kitty, Japanese super-cute fashion is all the rage in Taiwan, South Korea and parts of China, and even Americans can now identify Harajuku Girls thanks to the pop sensation Gwen Stefani.

Of course, this brings about the question: why do the Japanese love cute things?

Much has been written about this subject, and sadly I don’t have the time or the space to outline everything here. But, there is no shortage of theories out there trying to explain this surprisingly profound question.

For instance, some academics claim that kawaisa is the modern manifestation of the Japanese obsession with harmony and order. Then again, when I ask my students why they dress in bright pink and neon green, they usually reply, ‘It just makes me feel very very very happy.’

With that said, there is a growing minority of Japanese people that hate the idea of kawaisa, and find cute culture to be extremely juvenile and degrading to the society. This opposition to the mainstream is not hard to understand, given that past Japanese culture focused on restraint and minimalism. Consider for a moment the time and skill it takes to study calligraphy, tea ceremony, zen meditation, karate or any of Japan’s traditional arts.

So, is it possible for a culture to simultaneously embrace sumo wrestling and Pokemon?

Clearly, modern Japan is in a state of flux, which is one of the reasons why it’s such an interesting place to live. In the span of a few hours, it’s possible to take in an afternoon performance of live kabuki theatre, and then blow a few thousand yen playing the latest arcade games.

But, no matter what happens to mainstream Japanese culture in the years to come, one thing is for sure – Hello Kitty is here to stay. Since 1983, she’s held the position as the US Children’s Ambassador for UNICEF, and has been sported by celebrities as diverse as Mariah Carey, Cameron Diaz and Paris Hilton. Sanrio stores can be found across the globe, and the face of Hello Kitty adorns everything from clothing and stationary to jewelry and electronics. Despite her syrupy sweet image, Hello Kitty has even appeared on adult underwear, wedding dresses and even a, well, how should I say this – ‘personal massager.’

Hello Kitty – she’s not just for children anymore.

(Hello Kitty Vibrator picture sourced from www.jlist.com. If you’re over 21, yes – you can buy one).

** Special thanks to Flickr users Beggs (Cosupre Girl) and Morbuto (Alice in Wonderland) **