Ramen is thought to have originated from China between 1870 and 1922. The name “ramen” came from the Chinese word “la mian” which means hand-pulled noodles. The most similar dish to the ramen commonly known today is the Lanzhou lamian. Unlike the ramen these days, Chinese lamian had lean beef that there were less oil. Today’s ramen went through localization so that people can recognize the differences. In 1937, most ramen suddenly disappeared because of the war between China and Japan. In 1945, after Japan was defeated, Japan had difficulty obtaining food. However, the surplus American wheat that came into Japan made food based on wheat popular. In 1950, the economy of Japan started to grow, reaching its peak in the 1960s. This rise of the economy led to the popularity of ramen, because people who lived in the countryside came to the cities for jobs. People needed food that was fast and easy to eat. Also, at that time, the higher calories meant better nutrition. Ramen was treated as the best food to eat, because it had oily soup that contains beef oil. In 1958, the invention of instant ramen also contributed to the growing popularity of ramen. The instant ramen had a pretty good quality even in a poor cooking environment, so it became a hit. It was treated as a Chinese food in Japan at first because buckwheat noodles were usually in dishes from China, but after the Tonkotsu ramen appeared, the ramen started to become popular again. Old ramen took a long time to make, because the meat had to be boiled to make the oily soup. However, it became faster as time passed.

Instant Ramen

In 1958, Momofuku Ando invented instant ramen. Instant ramen is made by frying the noodles and pulling out all the moisture. There are many holes in the noodles, so if we pour hot water, the noodles change to their original form. Momofuku succeeded in making instant ramen that lasted long and was convenient. The first instant ramen had powder soup together with the noodles so that people could simply pour hot water and eat it.

History of Korean Ramen

The first instant ramen in Korea was Samyang ramen in 1963. After Samyang ramen, the beef ramen came out. Koreans usually ate beef rather than pork and chicken. So, people started to buy beef ramen that took 25% of the market share. After the rise of beef ramen, most instant ramen soups included beef. Also, a company called Nongshim started to make ramen and its products became popular in 1975. A popular ramen was Shin ramen for its spiciness. The Shin ramen changed the market landscape. After the Shin ramen, Nongshim went above Samyang's market share. Half of the most popular ramen in Korea had beef soup and 90% were spicy in 2018. According to the World Instant Noodles Association (WINA), the average consumption of ramen each year in South Korea was 73.7 per person, which was the first place out of all countries. These days, Korean ramen is exported to other countries. There was a popular challenge which was eating Buldak Fire noodles.

Cup noodle

When Japan tried to sell instant ramen in the West, they confronted a problem: Western houses usually didn’t have wide and deep bowls. Thus, cup noodles were made in 1971. At first, cup noodles were not popular, because most people had bowls in their house. Also, it was sold in specific areas, so countryside people couldn’t try them. But when they started selling it to people who are working at night it started to become popular. People working at companies ate them to save time.