Jakarta (ANTARA) – Ramen, which is known as a typical Japanese food, is one of the culinary delights that many Indonesians like. So, what is ramen and how did it originate?
This food dish consists of noodles made from wheat flour served in a rich broth, then added with toppings, such as meat, eggs, vegetables, and nori (seaweed).
Ramen noodles are thinner and smaller than Udon noodles, even though both noodles are yellow.
Ramen is very popular in terms of its taste image. In Japan, ramen broth comes from bone broth and pork fat. With various new serving ideas, ramen broth is now made from chicken or shrimp stock.
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History and origins of ramen
Ramen is a food dish that has historical roots starting from China, then spread to Japan and became the food culture of the people of Sakura Country.
Starting from 1859, the entry of Chi culturena and other western countries because of the opening of Japanese ports. Even then, the 1,200 year prohibition against eating meat was abolished.
Chinese culture began to spread in Japan, such as the emergence of Chinese restaurants that served food in the form of noodles. The dish has become popular among Japanese people.
The Chinese noodle dish called Nankinsoba, which is available in a restaurant with Western nuances in the Hakodate port area called Yowaken, is known as the food that started the emergence of ramen, although many people don’t know what it looks like because there are no photos of the food left.
During a year, there are 12 thousand students from China who come to Japan to study the western system in Japan. Then, some of these students felt that Japanese food was not suitable, so Chinese people in Japan opened Chinese food restaurants with cheap prices.
The restaurant is starting to become popular in the areas where Chinese students live, namely in Kanda, Ushigome and Hongo. However, in 1923 there was a big earthquake in Kanto, so several Chinese chefs started moving to Tokyo and setting up ramen shops.
Not only in Tokyo, there are other chefs who live in areas outside Tokyo. Finally, Ramen food began to spread and local Japanese ramen was created.
The first ramen shop in Japan was founded by Kanichi Ozaki and was known in 1910 as Rairaiken, the location of the shop was in Sushiyayokocho, Asakusa.
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Every day this restaurant manages to serve 2,500-3,000 customers with 13 Chinese chefs from Nankinmachi and Yokohama.
Hramen too increasingly popular and became the food of choice for the Japanese people, especially during World War II in 1945. At that time, Japan, which was still under American control, experienced a poor rice harvest. Then, America decided that the available flour would only be used for school lunches and emergency aid.
For this reason, regulations prohibiting the opening of food stalls were implemented, but the operation of transferring flour from factories to markets continued in secret to make ramen.
After five years, the wheat flour exchange regulations were abolished as well as the arrival of several Japanese who returned to work from China. The immigrants also brought the culture of ramen dishes, thus creating various new variations of ramen.
Over time, ramen food has developed and has increasingly modern variations of ramen, but ramen makers have not lost the image of the original taste of this noodle food.
So, ramen is a favorite food for culinary lovers and is the right food choice for those who want to try Japanese dishes.
Also read: These are 7 popular ramen restaurants in Jakarta and their addresses
Also read: Ajisen Ramen Begins a New Chapter After Achieving the Title of “No.1 Ramen Restaurant in the World”
Reporter: Putri Atika Chairulia
Editor: Suryanto
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