Ramen noodles originated in China, where all noodles seem to have come from, and are called "Lo-Mein" in Chinese, which means boiled noodles.

"Ra-men" is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese Characters for Lo-Mein.

This Chinese-style noodle became such a great favorite in Sapporo, the capital of Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, that it is now considered to be their regional dish. Ramen is to Sapporo what baked beans are to Boston. In other countries, the word for Ramen may be different, too. For example, they are called "Maggi Mee" in Singapore.

The process for turning the traditional Ramen noodles into the now familiar instant, packaged noodles was pioneered by Momofuku Ando, the founder of Nissin Foods in Japan. In 1970, Nissin Foods introduced "Top Ramen" to the United States and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

Many other companies introduced Top Ramen clones and even such industry giants such as Lipton and Campbell's began to experiment with Ramen-like products. Fierce competition notwithstanding, Nissin still controls slightly less than half of the U.S. Ramen market and fifteen percent of the world Ramen market of about ten billion dollars annually. At this writing, the average wholesale price for a package of Ramen in the U.S. is only twelve and a half cents.

Because of their enthusiastic acceptance in the market place, it wasn't long before instant Ramen skipped over national boundaries and became an international phenomena. Factories that make Ramen noodles can now be found not only in Japan and the U.S., but in Europe, Korea, China, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Each country's Ramen noodles reflect their own particular flavor preferences. Korean Ramen is highly spiced and often contains packets of black bean sauce. China makes Ramen in Szechuan flavors. Thailand makes very thin, delicate noodles with very hotly spiced packets. Japan prefers the flavor of seafood and mild spices. In the U.S. they are usually available with meat flavors, mushroom flavors or mild spices often referred to as "Oriental flavor".

As all noodles have come from China, Ramen noodles also originated in China and were called "La-Mein", which means boiled, strained noodles, in Chinese. Because Japanese pronounced these Chinese letters "Ramen", people call this product 'Ramen' around the world. Ramen noodles have become common, cheap and fast food. Japanese ramen have a variety of flavors, which are based on local tastes in different parts of Japan. Basic Japanese ramen flavor is soy sauce. In Kyushu, the southern part of Japan, ramen has tonkotsu (1) flavor, which is made from pork-based stock. In Hokkaido, the northern part of Japan, ramen has miso (2) flavor with rich lard. There are some other flavors in Japan. In fact, Sapporo, the capital city of Hokkaido, is called ramen city in Japan so that Sapporo ramen is more likely to be eaten by people around the world. Just as you may find instant noodles at your house, many kinds of instant noodles are available at supermarkets or grocery stores around the world. Instant noodles are also one of the most important foods for college students who live on campus here at Lewis & Clark College.

History of instant ramen

Who knows about the history of instant ramen noodles? Although instant ramens are worldwide products and are eaten by many people all over the world, only a few people have thought about instant ramen's history. When ramen noodles were first introduced from China to Japan, they were accepted and available just at restaurants until the time instant noodles were invented.

About fifty years ago, a man saw a long line of people who were waiting at a ramen restaurant. By the time the man saw this, an idea, bringing ramen into the home with a cheap price, came to him suddenly. This was Momofuku Ando, who invented the first instant noodles in the world. After the day he saw the long line, he built a factory to make instant ramen in his backyard and spent many sleepless nights. Finally ten years later, he succeeded to make his first product, "Chicken Ramen" in 1958. Chicken Ramen was an innovative and useful product, which was cheap (one package cost 35 yen), easy to make, and tasty. All that people needed were boiling water and three minutes of waiting time. As you can guess, this man became famous and his small workshop grew into the well-known global company, Nissin Foods, and introduced instant ramen to more than 80 different countries. (His instant ramen arrived on the east coast of the United States in 1972.) Ando built "The Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum" on the site of his factory.

Instant Ramen is no longer just an essential cheap product now. Instant ramen is a portable product, which people keep for an emergency. Because of its special characteristics of being easy to cook and easy to transport, it works for international disaster relief and aid work now. Now, instant ramen has taken an important role in emergency supplies for regional disaster, not only in Japan for disasters such as earthquakes in Kobe but also in Taiwan, India, and other countries. Thanks to the instant noodles, many victims of natural disasters have escaped from starvation. As you have read, one Japanese man, Momofuku Ando, brought the first instant noodles into the world, so all Japanese are proud of Ando for sure. If you are interested to know about ramen history, you can see a chronology of ramen history on this web site. (http://www.nissinfoods.com/his.htm)

Variety of Ramen in the World

Ramen first originated in China; however, it is prepared in Japanese style and has become a common food around the world. Although all instant noodles are based on Ando's first instant noodle, "Cup Noodle"(3), each country's ramen reflect their own flavor. Korean ramen is more likely to have hot spices and usually contains black bean sauce. Chinese ramen usually has Szechuan flavors and Thais like thin noodles with hot spicy flavor. Italians like tomato flavor and Indians like masala flavor. Americans like mild spices and mild flavor. Japanese likes mild spices and seafood flavor. As you can guess, there are very many companies producing their own instant noodles with their special flavor everywhere in the world. Even though there are a variety of instant noodles such as Udon (4), Soba, Bibinmen, hiyashichuka (5), and Reimen in the world, we shouldn't forget our first instant noodle, Ramen. Although there are a variety of flavors of ramen for people, Japanese ramen, the cup-noodle, is the most famous ramen in the world.

Now, there are many ramen fans in Japan; however, this ramen means not only traditional ramen, which we eat at the ramen restaurant, but also instant ramen. In 2000, there were more than 840 brands (6) of instant ramen in Japan. Japanese people (Japan has a population of about 126 million) eat about 5.3 billion package of instant noodles in a year. Certainly more and more people eat instant ramen in Japan today. Children and adolescents like to eat ramen when their parents can't prepare a complete meal for them. Adults like to go to ramen shops after they drink alcohol. Even seniors like to eat ramen because it is mild and easy to digest. You have to wait in a line more than thirty minutes to enter some famous ramen chain restaurants. Recently, there is a ramen boom in Japan, and several magazines, which specialize in ramen, are coming out. You can find vending machines with hot water servers everywhere, especially on college campus. All convenience stores prepare boiling hot water for customers' demands all the time. In addition, Japan has a big ramen museum, Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum, and this museum is arousing people's interest in things connected with ramen. It is no exaggeration to say that Japan is flooded with ramen. Now, you want to eat a cup-noodle, don't you?