Ramen's Global Impact

Ramen's Global Impact

Just as ramen permeated post war Japanese culture, it continues to insert itself into new environments and cultures. Ramen began its life cycle as an amalgam and ultimately came to represent a significant piece of Japanese material folklore. It emerged as an evolution of the soba noodle, a noodle that was initially introduced by Chinese cuisine. It was spurred on by the introduction of wheat from the USA and modified by ingredients that are region specific. Ramen’s inception was multicultural and continues to borrow from the folk groups who embrace it. Another contradiction is seen in its ability to be so distinctly Japanese and yet so approachable by other cultures who may seem incredibly separated from Japanese folklore. Ramen is more than just a simple noodle dish, it is a reflection of local popular culture and incredibly delicious. This combination has allowed it to spread globally to areas like Los Angeles, New York and even Lima, Peru!

Ramen was introduced to America in large part by prominent chef David Chang who transferred the ritual and tradition of Ramen to New York after living in Japan for many years. David Chang saw incredible potential for this dish to merge with New York and Los Angeles urban culture and created a sense of unity between urban youths and Japanese cuisine. David Chang’s Momofuku noodle bar exploded into the limelight after it was recognized as the “featured ramen as the theme for the first issue of his hip food quarterly Lucky Peach. Ramen and its purveyors in America have been lionized in mainstream publications such as the New York Times and Food & Wine alongside trendier food media, including Lucky Peach, Saveur, and Roads & Kingdoms” (Stalker 2018). Jonathan Gold, an influential Los Angeles columnist also recognized Ramen’s ability to embrace urban street culture and often commented on its element of “consumable nostalgia” a tradition “ familiar to both Americans and Japanese, and the author’s own position in relation to the youth consumer culture of hipness offered by the ramen shop is one of eager participation and slight modesty” (Solt 2014, 194). Japan had recently emerged as the “cool center” of the world in terms of cuisine and fashion and Americans were ready to embrace its material folklore.

Lima, Peru has also emerged as a Ramen hotspot in recent times. While this may seem initially odd it’s important to recognize that Japanese Peruvians make up a sizable portion of the local community. Similar to America’s embrace of ramen, many of the popular culture enthusiasts of Lima have leapt into the ramen scene and embraced it as a branch of their own folk practices. Many of the ramen chefs have previously worked in Japan and are on a mission to create “Ramen just like in Japan” and recreate a “real ambience of ramen-ya in Tokyo” (Stalker 2018). Ramen has become a reflection of the Japanese way of life, but, similar to the different regions of Japan, also reflects the Peruvian way of life. These chefs are desperately trying to recreate the ambiance of Japan,“their ultimate objective, and dream, they say, is to recreate the flavors and smells of Japan that those Peruvians who were in Japan really miss now” (Stalker 2018).

Ramen has also spread to Papua New Guinea where it has returned to it’s original roots of providing a cheap, sustainable mode of sustenance. Papua New Guinea is a developing nation and is looking for cheap food alternatives much like the postwar world of Japan. The company Nestle started selling and marketing instant ramen noodles to the urban poor as an affordable alternative to more expensive local food items. However, the instant ramen noodle has been embraced by all members of society and is quickly becoming a dish that all can enjoy. “As the PNG example suggests, instant noodles, in their spread throughout the world, have been caught up in a remarkable global project of capitalist refashioning” (Errington, Gewertz and Fujikura 2013, 95). The early creators of Ramen may have never imagined such a simple dish would impact Japan’s culture and the global culture to the extent it has! Ramen succeeds as an element of folklore because of its ability to merge with existing traditions and rituals. As we’ve seen, once Ramen merges with a new folk group it ultimately leans into the local customs and also provides its own impact and changes to that culture as well.