Apparently, today 25 August is 即席ラーメン記念日 (the Memorial Day for Instant Ramen) and the first 2-minute noodles “chicken ramen” was launched on this day 60 years ago!
These days, everybody knows what “ramen” is and “2-minutes noodles” have been accepted as a staple food here in Australia but its history is only 60 years old!
When I was a child, the word “Ramen” was interchangeable with the word “chuuka soba” (Chinese noodles), so I believed “ramen” was a Chinese dish and I don’t think I was the only one who believed that.
It was called Chuukasoba because they are based on the Chinese long soup and the style is distinctively different from those traditionally Japanese udon or soba noodles, but now I think that the ramen is a Japanese dish, not Chinese.
2-minutes noodles are not particularly healthy, but I get a craving for it if I don’t have had it for a while. I guess I can blame “culture” for that craving!
.jpg)
