Japanese ramen in history

Although there are as many types of ramen as there are ramen chefs, the most basic components of a bowl are the noodles, the stock and the flavoring.

Ramen began life in Japan as a cheap, scrumptious and filling food from China. Although a precise point of origin is elusive, the introduction of ramen to Japan can be traced to the 1880s, when Chinese migrants from the Guangdong region began working as cooks at restaurants catering to foreigners in bustling port city of Yokohama.

Ramen typically comes with one of four flavors of broth: soy sauce, miso, salt or tonkotsu; it is commonly garnished with chopped scallions, menma, seaweed and sliced pork or hardboiled egg. The Chinese-style ramen noodles of Japan are more elastic and hence chewier than the traditional Japanese wheat noodles.

In this early phase Chinese cooks served their noodles soup and other dishes primarily to other workers and students from their own country.

Beginning in the 1910s, however, Japanese restaurants employing Chinese chefs transformed the dish into a hearty lunch food containing ingredients previously unused in the Chinese version of the noodle soup, such as roasted pork, soy sauce, and pickled bamboo shoots.

In 1958, Momofuku Ando invented instant ramen which was sold in little blocks wrapped in colorful plastic packaging. They were made by frying cooked noodles briefly at a high heat, so they could later be rehydrated with hot water.
Japanese ramen in history