Ramen as Dehydrated Noodles: Difference between revisions

When you hear the word "ramen," what do you think of? If you are a Westerner, chances are you think of dried noodles with some strange powder, served in a styrofoam cup. You pour boiling water into the cup, wait for three minutes, and serve. Which companies and brands you see most often will depend on the country you're from:

** Some Australians (in particular recent uni students) prefer Indonesian brand Indomie's [http://www.indomie.com/products-goreng.html Mie Goreng].

 

We shall begin with dehydrated noodles, as this is more familiar to a westerner than fresh ramen. While "ramen" refers strictly to a specific type of Japanese noodle (often in soup), the term is also used to refer to any package of dehydrated noodles with seasonings for a single serving. On the other hand, recently many producers started to differentiate between various type of noodles, so one can encounter amusing combinations like "udon instant ramen".<ref>Ramen--the fresh kind--are a Japanese development of Chinese noodles, and might well be the Japanese pronunciation of the lo mein you find at Chinese restaurants pretty much everywhere (except of course most of China).</ref>

What all dehydrated noodles have in common, however, no matter what country they're from, is that they're symbolic of poverty -- or, at least, not exactly stable life. Which is somewhat ironic, given that initially instant ramen was seen as an upscale product, and cost significantly more than the real stuff. Things changed since, though, and now whether it's the [[Starving Student|starving university student]], people living alone flooded in debt, or folks who have fallen on hard times, whenever you see someone in fiction pouring boiling water into a brick of rock-hard noodles, you can tell they're hungry for money as well as food. Quite [[Truth in Television]], as instant noodles are quite cheap and can be prepared quickly. The somewhat more nutritionally conscious might put in some veggies and an egg.

 

----

* The heroes in ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' always find themselves eating dried noodles of various types due to their constant lack of money. It becomes a [[Running Gag]].

* ''[[Lucky Star]]'' has a few scenes with instant ramen, discussing the tendency to forget about it while it's cooling.

* Resident ojou of ''[[Seitokai Yakuindomo]]'' also appears to be quite fond of ramen.

* One of the ''Project X'' nonfiction business documentary mangas is about Nissin and the creation of the Cup Noodle.

 

* In ''[[Uglies]]'', they have tons of types of dehydrated meals, many involving noodles, which are all written in [[CamelCase]], and so would all be [[Wiki Word]]-ed here.

* In ''[[The Tomorrow Series]]'', [[City Mouse|city girl]] Fi is entirely unfamiliar with Two-Minute Noodles. Jack tells her about him subsisting on Two-Minute Noodles for a whole week when living with his father before the war.

 

* In a first-season episode of ''[[Breaking Bad]]'', Walter White gives a pack of ramen to his old business partner Elliott Schwartz as a memento from their days working together as struggling graduate students.

* An early episode of ''[[ER]]'' had Dr. Ross catching Dr. Carter preparing to feast on a cup of instant noodles, despite being from a ''very'' wealthy family. Turns out, his family [[Riches to Rags|cut him off]] due to a disagreement.

 

* In ''[[Ace Attorney]]'', Dick Gumshoe frequently finds himself eating ramen... when he can afford it.

 

* The students in ''[[PHD]]'' feed off of dried ramen and free food.

 

* The eponymous character in ''[[Naruto]]'' is a fan of ramen, referring specifically to the fresh kind (and the dehydrated one, too, which he eats on a daily basis). The series has a [[Local Hangout|ramen bar, Ichiraku Ramen]], that's internationally famous.

* ''[[Ramen Fighter Miki]]'' focuses on competing ramen delivery services.

* In ''[[One Piece]]'', Wanze fights using ramen noodles as armor and as grappling.

* ''[[Oishinbo]]'' has devoted chapters here and there to ramen and other noodles.

 

* ''The Ramen Girl'', a movie about an American woman who follows her boyfriend to Japan, ends up getting dumped by him and left stranded there, and later drowns her sorrows at a local ramen restaurant. To cope with the loss, she vows to become an expert ramen cook and convinces the restaurant owner to train her in cooking ramen.

 

* ''[[Persona 3]]'' had Hagakure Ramen as a typical hangout location, usually important for Social Links.

* Ramen has become an Earth delicacy in the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' universe by the time of Mass Effect 2. Kasumi speaks about her grandmother preparing it, and a cook at a restaurant on the Citadel can also be overheard talking about it.

** Alternatively, the chef is trying to con some Citadel tourists into eating "genuine" Earth cuisine.

** Grunt the Krogan and [[Extreme Omnivore]] at that dislikes ramen, because it looked like dead worms to him.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Ramen as Dehydrated Noodles]]