The Magic of Japanese Ramen Soup

I have always found Japanese Ramen Soup to be comfort food. It is true, however, I make a mess and really should wear a bib when eating as I get soup everywhere.

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Japanese Ramen Soup

Ramen does not Mean “Instant”

Ramen refers to both the particular wheat noodles, and the broth that is made to serve them in (or nearby). While ramen soup usually has the noodles and topping in the broth, one dish has them each served in their own bowl. Tsukemen, also known as “dipping noodles” is a ramen dish consisting of noodles which are eaten after being dipped in a separate bowl of soup or broth.

Now let us be clear, I am not speaking about the Instant Ramen Soup, but the real one with hand cut noodles, a long simmering aromatic broth, and delicious fresh ingredients, not dehydrated bits.

Japanese Ramen History

The Chinese Role

Ramen Soup, according to Wikipedia, is a Japanese adaptation of Northern Chinese udon-type wheat noodle soups. It turns out the Chinese brought the idea of noodles in a soup broth, topped with pork, with them when they immigrated to Yokohama’s Chinatown in the early 20th century (or late 19th).

• Yes it is true, Japan has 3 main Chinatowns, and each have its own distinct character. These are: Yokohama (near Tokyo); Kobe (near Osaka & Kyoto); and Nagasaki on the island of Kyushu.

Historically, Yokohama was a busy port town and so it helped spread the news about “noodle soup” around to the other Chinatowns, then to Japan as a whole, and eventually the World. It is thought that Chinese street vendors in these areas sold this cheap, but filling ramen from their stands to the busy, poor working class Chinese (1).

From all the reports I could find, the Japanese did not like the dish at first, for it was a fatty bone stock served with unusually thick wheat noodles, and had fatty pork as the only topping. This made the dish very unlike Japanese cuisine at that time; just contrast that fatty sounding dish with the light miso or shoyu broths the Japanese would make, with leaner seafood versus pork, and the use of vegetables in their food (2).

The Japanese soon took ownership of the new ramen soup, and modified the dish to meet their palate. They really had no choice given the scarcity of resources and the starvation diets many Japanese had at that time. Soon enough they started to slurp up the noodle soup as well. Eventually, adding their touch to the dish so the broth became lighter by filtering the bone stock, and more flavorful by adding other meats or fish along with veggies.

Chinese lāmiàn Note

Although the ramen takes its name from lāmiàn, it does not actually evolve from this northern Chinese dish. Lāmiàn is a Chinese soft wheat noodle that is particularly common in northern China. It is made by twisting, stretching and folding the dough into strands, using its own weight, so thickness varies by makers folding.

RamanYokocho states that the first Japanese restaurant to serve wheat noodles in soup broth occured in 1884. But at that time it was not the phenomenon it is today, for rural people were almost entirely unfamiliar with wheat, it was the more urban population that started to be open to wheat in the form of European cakes and pastries at that time. The common people consumed a combination of rice, barley, and millet along with vegetables they grew or foraged, and seafood of course. 

So by the early 1900’s, Japanese did eat some wheat, but in small quantities. They were definately familiar with noodles but just not wheat based ones, they used buckwheat (not really related to wheat) that grew easily on the mountain sides.

Called soba, it had been a part of Japanese food for quite a while. EconomicTimes writes, this was cooked in light broths made from dried fish and eaten with vegetables or pickles ­ quite different from the onion and soy-flavoured seasonings used in Japanese ramen noodles today.

By the mid 1940s everything changed and wheat became much more a staple food (3).

Surprising American Role

The expansion of using wheat noodles really came with the end of WWII, for Japan that was in August 1945, with formal agreements signed in September. Three things happened in fairly quick sequence, that resulted in America playing a significant part of the ramen wheat noodles creation.

• I should also note, some believe that the Japanese government had a role in its people starving (4). For instance, the Japanese own food production declined by ~26% in the last few years of the war, due to the government prioritized fertilizers and tools towards that effort (5) over food for its population. 
• December 1945, AtlasObscura writes, Japan recorded its worst rice harvest in 42 years.
• WW2Days: That year Food supplies were so mea­ger that the aver­age Japa­nese citi­zen was living at or near star­va­tion level. Ave­rage civil­ian caloric in­take in 1945 was 78 per­cent of the mini­mum needed for health and phys­i­cal per­for­mance. By the end of June the civil­ian popu­la­tion began to show signs of panic. Experts pre­dicted deaths by star­va­tion would exceed seven mil­lion were Japan to some­how mus­ter the will and resources to wage war through 1946. 
• Japan simultaneously experienced the loss of food imported from its wartime colonies that farmed and exported rice to them from China, Taiwan, and Korea (6).
• The USA sends an infusion of wheat, lard, some rice, dried milk, and other foodstuffs starting in 1945-46.

Japan was trying to find ways to use the food that was being shipped, given they had a starving country, torn apart by the war and atomic bombs. By 1950, wheat noodles were fully integrated into the Japanese cuisine, and now Japanese street vendors started legally selling ramen wheat noodles and soup.

• Japanese historian George Solt states, the abundance of American wheat flour combined with war vets returning from China with knowledge of that country’s cuisine led to a flourishing of dumplings and wheat noodles in broth.
• NonaLim wrote: The popularity of ramen grew as food carts started to reappear on the scene and as Japan became more industrial. Ramen had grown to be a low-cost filling meal for workers, soldiers, and students in the urban areas. The combo of salt, meat, water, fat, and carbs made it a great choice for those seeking a dish that helped your energy levels stay high all day. 

The USA occupied and ran Japan from 1945 until 1952, and during that time USA wheat organizations sent 12 demonstration kitchen buses to Japan to show women how to cook with wheat, they introduced school lunches that fed children wheat products, powdered milk, and meat based dishes (7). Even after the occupation ended, between 1954 and 1956, according to Slate, Japan and America signed agreements where Japan consented to buy USAs surplus wheat and in return, the USA loaned money to the Japanese weapons industry. (Yes, food is as political as weapons sometimes, see 8.)

Then in 1958 the amazing Instant Ramen Noodles phase began with the invention by Momofuko Ando. (I have a while post on the history of Ando and the instant soups: Global Noodles + Soups.)

Now there are 24+k and growing Ramen shops in Japan. To quote IvyPanda, Japanese regard it as a part of their cultural heritage and no longer treat it as a meal that originated from a foreign cuisine.

Japanese Role in Ramen

So if Chinese brought the idea of wheat noodles in soup topped with protein, and Americans brought millions of tons of wheat, what were Japanese bringing to this dish? One would not be too far off to speak of refinement, complexity, and flavor. From an artisanal soup, to fast food, ramen has been Japan-ized into their own distinct cuisine.

Something like Curry Ramen is completely Janapese in origin however. The curry gravy for this dish is unlike Indian curry and is uniquely a British-Japanese invention (9). Hardmaru wrote, Japanese curry originated from curry powder that 19th-century British sailors took with them to Japan. The Meiji government needed to feed its soldiers and sailors healthily and in bulk. Anglo-Indian curry soon became a standard meal in the Japanese navy.

I happen to like Japanese curry and often servie it with rice, while the curry contains potatoes and carrots. For ramen curry, just add the noodles to the same sauce and you have it.

The Components

The Ramen Soup dish is composed of a number of components.

• Wheat Noodles
• Broth
• Vegetable + Meat or Fish + Eggs are ingredients
• Seasoning

Ramen Noodle Soup

Broth

When eating ramen, first take several spoonfuls of broth, for it is the one thing that serious time is spent making. It is what distinguishes one place from another. Especially do not season before tasting the broth.

There are four basic broths for Japanese Ramen Soup.

• Shio: This is the earliest salt broth used, and is lighter flavored. Comes from boiling down chicken bones and flavored with bonito or dashi.
• Tonkotsu: This is a pork bone broth, cloudy white, nutritious and hearty. This was accidently created in 1847 when a broth was overcooked, but tasted so good it became a staple. Personally this is my favorite.
• Shoyu: Is a soy sauce broth, so expect salty, and dark colored. Usually this is not the type of soy sauce you eat at restaurants or at home, but a special fermented one.
• Miso: Is a soybean paste broth that is savory, strong, and opaque. My second favorite soup broth.
• Curry: This is the Japanese curry broth, or gravy.

The broth for this soup can be cloudy or clear, made from pork bones, or pork and chicken bones. However, beef bones and seafood could also be used. Then dashi is usually added.

Noodles

Until the 1950s, the ramen noodles were called “Chinese Soba” noodles in Japan, but now it is fully accepted into the Japanese food culture and they are just called ramen. According to some, “ramen” is just a transliteration of the Chinese la mian.

• To be clear, soba noodles are not ramen noodles, soba are made from buckwheat flour and ramen is from wheat flour. So they do taste differently.
• Likewise, Vietnamese Pho noodles or Banh pho are not like ramen noodles either, these noodles are thin and clear, made from glutinous rice.

The ramen noodles are made from wheat flour, salt, water, and an alkaline water that is called kansui, and gives the noodles a yellow shade, chewy texture and rich flavor. Kansui is an alkaline water, containing potassium carbonate and sodium carbonate. But it did not start that way, it was simply wheat noodles in broth served with Chinese style pork. Only later, according to JapanHouseLA, did chefs add kansui to the noodles to make it unique.

The shape and length of these noodles vary. They can be wavy, curly, straight, thick or thin.

Ingredients

Typical toppings range from the classic chashu or braised pork, a marinated boiled egg, bamboo shoots (memma), sliced fish cake, bean sprouts, green onion, seaweed, and corn, 

Typical restaurant ramen bowls come with soft-boiled eggs and certain types of vegetables, like leeks or corn, in addition to seaweed and bean sprouts. A few more options that work well with ramen include cabbage, broccoli, spinach, scallions or bok choy.

Seasoning

There are two types of seasoning. First the items added to the soup once it has moved from a bone stock to a bone broth stage, flavor needs to be added and each Chef has his or her own special ingreients that they simmer in the broth to make it uniquely their own.

Seasonings in the broth might be pepper as in peppercorns, or long pepper, salt, star anise, garlic, ginger, wine, bullion, soy sauce, miso, sesame oil, chilis, etc.

Seasonings used as toppings, such as sesame seeds, Furikake, Shichimi Togarashi, spring onions, hot sauce, seaweed, sprouts etc.

Etiquette + Questions

How to eat ramen? Ramen is usually served with chopsticks and a spoon. Chopstick rules are: never place them upright in your bowl, only use one hand for the chosticks, do not wave them in the air, or pass food to other diners with them. When done, put then across the top of your bowl or in a holder. For the spoon, use the opposite hand to the chopsticks, and use it to help twirl the noodles.

Can you drink the broth from the bowl? I have asked around and was told in Japan that would be okay. If you do, use both hands to hold the bowl to your mouth. Make sure the noodles are gone and you are just slurping up the leftover broth. But frankly, some Japanese feel the broth should be viewed as a fatty gravy, and only consumed with noodles and not as a drink.

Can you slurp? Yes you can and there are even reasons to do so. First, slurping cools the ramen soup which can be quite hot. Second, it shows appreciation to the chef. Third, this makes one breathe through the nose which expands the multitude of flavors to appreciate. Some shops even provide plastic bibs to help when slurping. But if in doubt, look around and follow the pattern of the other customers.

Can you ask for more noodles? Sure, rather than drinking the broth, ask for more noodles and add that to your bowl to help finish it all (10). If you still have room to eat them.

Is Ramen healthy food? No, not really (11). Unless you make it at home and control the amount of salt in the dish and its ingredients. It is not just the salt, but also the amount of carbs in the noodles.

Length of eating time? Ramen is fast food, you go to ramen shops to get a bowl, eat it, and leave. So do not overstay.

Which is healthier, ramen or pho? Calories: Medium bowl ramen ~350,, medium bowl pho ~550 calories. Carbs: Ramen has more carbs. Protein: Pho has more protein. Sodium: Pho has more than ramen. Nutrition: Pho is always a bone broth, only one version of ramen is. Fat: ramen has 15g fat, pho has 5g fat. Noodles: Ramen is wheat, pho is rice noodles. Overall, ArousingAppetit gives the award to pho.

Summary

I do not pretend to understand the devastation that Japan felt from the American utilization of nuclear bombs on Japan. But I do come from a family that had direct experience of bombing during WWII. My Oma (then ~43 years old) and mother (8 years old) went through the war living in Munich, which was heavily bombed in 1944. Over 74 air raids were made, and Wikipedia estimates over 90% of the old town was destroyed from those carpet bombings.

As the birthplace of the Großdeutsches Reich in 1939, there is some aspect of “cleansing” and propaganda associated with the bombing that is arguably deserving. But my point here, is that I have just a glimmer of what Japan’s devastation must have been like; for when I was a child in Germany there were still rubble and damaged buildings in areas. And I also understand clearly that when hungry, you do not turn your nose at whatever form nutrition takes.

I also assume that partly as gratitude for the help it received following its surrender, partly as self-assigned penance, and partly it is the right thing to do; Japan today continues as a major donor to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), and is very active in hunger relief efforts around the globe.  For instance, I have already told of the use of Instant Ramen Soup as emergency rations that have been and continue to be sent to areas of catastrophes all across the globe, including the USA. Please see Instant Noodles + Soup Feed the World.

There are probably reams more of information that could be added, like many of my other posts, there are several books-worth of information about this dish. Here I give but the briefest of overviews.

As an aside, Julie Yoon of WaPo reports these days a bowl of Ramen usually costs ~$6.70 USD, it is higher than customers expect, due to inflation (raising costs of ingredients + electricity + staff) and a weak yen. Unfortunately, this is making this comforting, belly-filling dish more expensive for the average citizen. As a result, many Ramen Shops are closing all across Japan. But do not expect the Ramen dish to disappear, it is firmly seated within the Japanese culture

—Patty

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