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)**

One for the Road – China: Chinese Foods

by Kelly Amabile on

As a sidebar to this month’s Chinese Buffet series, throughout August, One for the Road will highlight travel guides, reference books and other recommended reads related to life or travel in China.

Those darling dumplings are just one example of traditional Chinese cuisine. So where do you turn to learn more? There are tons of books that could be mentioned here, but I just picked one title from a bunch I recently looked at from China Books. These guys carry books about all aspects of life in China. This Chinese Foods book is from the Cultural China Series of China Intercontinental Press, and has been translated into English by William W. Wang.

The book contains beautiful images and follows a clean, crisp design. It begins with a chapter on traditional foods native to China and is then followed by a look at foods introduced from other places — like corn and chili peppers. Most of the book is dedicated to traditions, local delicacies, tools of the trade and the Chinese eating experience. There are also sections dedicated to tea and wine. If you’re going to China on a culinary journey, this book might serve as a fine introduction to the history and culture of food throughout the country.

Locate Fast Food Restaurants with FastFoodMaps.com

by Justin Glow on

It may be the most superfluous website on the entire Internet, but it’s done well. FastFoodMaps.com provides a Google Maps interface for locating fast food restaurants around the United States. If you’re having problems locating a fast food restaurant in America, something is wrong. In fact, I’d urge you to not locate a fast food restaurant on your next road trip. Impossible.

Even so, FastFoodMaps.com serves its purpose and does it well. Houston seems to have the highest concentration of fast food restaurants, with just over 500 in the greater metro area. You can filter results by location, of course, but also by restaurant. Houston has almost 130 McDonald’s.

Also interesting is the their static maps which shows the distribution of various chains from around the country. The image above is every McDonald’s in the U.S.

FastFoodMaps.com [via]

NY Air Travelers Have Rights. Well, Some Anyway …

by Martha Edwards on

I’m sure we’ve all heard of, seen or experienced first hand the horrors of flight delays. Aside from long in-airport delays, I’ve been pretty lucky in that I’ve never had to wait inside a plane for hours without food or water. But others haven’t been so fortunate, like the people on this flight or this one.

But don’t think that the powers that be haven’t noticed how much it can suck being a lowly coach passenger. Governor Eliot Spitzer has signed a ‘passenger’s bill of rights’ which is meant to protect air travellers in New York in case of such delays. According to the bill, New York airlines must provide passengers with food, water, fresh air, power and working bathrooms on any flights that have been sitting on the Tarmac for 3 hours.

Wait a second …. 3 hours? That seems like a bit much … I wonder how Eliot Spitzer would feel about waiting 3 hours to go to the bathroom. An hour sitting in the tarmac is enough to warrant fresh water, food and bathrooms if you ask me.

What People Eat Around the Globe

by Neil Woodburn on

Discovering the different foods consumed internationally is one of the true joys of traveling.

I love walking through local markets and grocery stores when visiting some far-off land. Restaurants are pretty cool as well. The most rewarding experience by far, however, is being invited into someone’s home and eating a meal with them in the same manner which they’ve been doing so their entire lives.

And so it was with pleasure that I ran across a recent Time Magazine article, How the World Eats, by Bryan Walsh, that details the eating habits of typical families from around the globe and how much they spend on a weekly basis buying food.

What really makes the article, however, is the accompanying photo gallery plucked from the pages of photographer Peter Menzel’s book, Hungry Planet. The gallery features 15 families from Ecuador to Kuwait sitting in their dining rooms surrounded by the food they consume over the course of a typical week.

Each photo from a developed nation is a kaleidoscope of various packaged goods; while photos from Chad, Ecuador and Bhutan, reflect a far more rural palate of natural colors. Naturally, the contrast is meant to be jarring, and perhaps even a little bit sickening when comparing the bounty of some nations to the meager portions of others. On the other hand, the more impoverished countries sure seem to eat a lot healthier! Except for Chad; a couple of small bags of grain is a depressing sight to see.

So, if you’ve just stuffed your face with some local specialty, take a moment to check out what others are eating across the globe and you’ll quickly feel either better or worse about yourself.