The Ramen Reference Web

table of contents
introduction
history
general
overview
regional
differences
interviews &
conversations
history
4
6
16
22
40
50
The Ramen Reference | 5

introduction
This book is not about instant ramen,
those dehydrated noodles and powdered
season packets that sell for twenty cents
a piece. This book is about changing the
idea and perception of ramen, shifting
the American view from instant noodles
to the labor-intensive soup which has
been a staple of Japanese diets for
decades. Its about an appreciation
of comfort food turned art form.
6 | The Ramen Reference

Ramen-yas in Tokyo
Authentic ramen begins with a broth made
of chicken or pork bones, boiled for hours
on end, followed by wheat noodles, made of specific
alkaline waters, and ending with an assortment
of toppings. It is a fast, casual meal served in
ramen-yas or ramen bars that is considered a
kind of comfort food. Hearty, salty, and full of
rich flavor, this ramen takes full days to prepare
and takes a clear attention to craft.
As ramen spreads across the United States spurred
on by chefs such as David Chang of Momofuku
Noodle Bar and more recently Ivan Orkin of Ivan
Ramen, it’s important to understand the difference
between ramen and other Asian noodle dishes
such as pho. While there are similarities, pho
doesn’t command the same cultural following as
ramen, and the spread hasn’t taken up the same
artistry that ramen chefs in the United States have
adopted. Both began as humble comfort foods in
their countries of origin, but ramen in Japan rose
as a counterculture movement transforming
unhealthy junk food into something more. This
phenomenon is now making waves in the culinary
scenes of the biggest and smallest cities in the U.S.
Ramen is becoming something similar to coffee
or wine, people are not just eating ramen they
are observing and analyzing it. Every new twist
or addition is judged and ultimately rolled into
the changing styles of ramen, similar to the way
that ramen evolved across the different regions of
Japan years ago. Shops in New York City, Portland,
and Oakland are ushering in an age of American
Ramen, our own twist on this Japanese food.
This book should serve as a reference to understand
ramen better, from its history, the way a bowl is
composed, the regional differences found in Japan,
interviews and conversations about ramen, and
finally recipes to discover what it takes to create it.
Introduction | 7

history
The following history is a brief retelling of
George Solt’s The Untold History of Ramen:
How Political Crisis in Japan Spawned a
Global Food Craze.
8 | The Ramen Reference

A
lthough ramen is now an
iconic Japanese dish, it’s
actually an immigrant, and the
names originally used for it made
that perfectly clear. Chūka soba
and Shina soba both basically
mean “Chinese noodles”
but have very different connotations.
Chūka soba became the most-used
term after World War II and is having
something of a revival. It replaced
shina soba as the political connotations of “shina”
became controversial, since it was the word used
for China when Japan was an imperialist power
in Asia. But there’s no dish in China that closely
resembles today’s Japanese ramen, so the story is
much more complicated than a simple borrowing.
Solt presents three main origin myths about
ramen, and what he calls “The first and most
imaginative” comes from a book published in
1987. It credits a legendary feudal lord, Tokugawa
Mitsukuni, as the first to eat ramen in the 1660s.
This is based on a historical record of a Chinese
refugee giving him advice on what to add to his
udon soup to make it tastier, including garlic,
green onions, and ginger.
It’s unclear, to say the least, how much the
modified udon soup resembled modern ramen,
and in any case there’s no direct historical
connection no one can argue that that soup
gradually developed into the dish eaten today.
However, the Ramen Museum of Yokohama
popularized this story, and Solt attributes its appeal
to the fact that it places the origin of ramen far
back in Japanese history at a time when – as we’ll
see later – ramen is acquiring its modern symbolism
as a quintessentially Japanese food.
The second and more plausible story associates
ramen with the opening of Japan to the outside
world in the late nineteenth century. Port cities like
Yokohama and Kobe attracted Chinese as well as
the Yokohama version
inspired Tokyo pushcart
peddlers who started selling
noodle soup in the old Ueno
and Asakusa neighborhoods
westerners, who brought with them a noodle soup
called laa-mien, handmade noodles in a light
chicken broth. Japanese called the dish Nankin
soba (Nanjing noodles) after the capitol of China.
This soup didn’t have toppings and was eaten at
the end of the meal instead of being a meal in
itself, so again, it’s hardly identical to the ramen
of today. But it does seem to have a far more
legitimate claim to being a predecessor: the
Yokohama version inspired Tokyo pushcart
peddlers who started selling noodle soup in the
old Ueno and Asakusa neighborhoods of Tokyo
in the early twentieth century.
The third tale is similar to the second, but
attributes the invention to a single person,
which always makes a more satisfying story. In
1910, a shop called Rai-Rai Ken opened in the
Asakusa district of Tokyo. The owner, Ozaki
Kenichi, had been a customs agent in Yokohama,
but the soup he served wasn’t the unadorned
nineteenth century version: it sounds like it would
be familiar to anyone who’s eaten ramen lately:
“Rai-Rai Ken incorporated a soy sauce–based
seasoning sauce and served its noodle soup,
referred to as Shina soba, with chāshū
(roasted pork), naruto (fish-meal cake),
boiled spinach, and nori (seaweed)—
ingredients that together would form
the model for authentic Tokyo-style ramen.”
History | 9

Ramen pushcart in Tokyo
10 | The Ramen Reference

Solt argues that it wasn’t enough to invent a recipe –
the product had to have a customer base, basically,
and in the late 19th and early 20th century, it was
the right food at the right time, as Japan was
becoming more industrialized and urbanized.
Instead of living in rural areas where they grew
and prepared their own food, more and more
people had jobs in the cities and made money
to eat in restaurants. Ramen wasn’t a hand-made
artisanal delight in those days – the attraction was
largely speed and calories:
That sounds crazy to us now, but remember that
for most of history, people have had to worry less
about being fat and more about starving to death.
For workers who’d moved to the city from rural
areas where they had to scrape as many calories
as they could from the earth with their own two
hands, the idea no doubt made perfect sense. So
this period of ramen’s history is intimately tied up
with Japan’s starting to develop into a modern,
urbanized, industrial nation, turning away in
some senses from its traditional past:
“When making Shina soba, cooks prepared a
pot of soup base and a bowl of flavoring sauce
to serve an entire day’s worth of customers,
leaving only the boiling of the noodles and
reconstituting of the soup to be left for when
the orders were placed.
The short amount of time necessary to prepare
and consume the noodle soup, and its heartiness
compared to Japanese soba (which did not
include meat in the broth or as a topping), also
fit the dietary needs and lifestyles of urban
Japanese workers in the 1920s and 1930s.”
Ramen was also one of the first industrialized
foods – a mechanical noodle-making machine
was in general use by the late 1910s. At this point
it was definitely still seen as foreign – it was largely
eaten in cafes (kissaten) and Western-style eateries,
as well as Chinese restaurants and street stands
– and this was a point in its favor. Foreign food
was regarded as more healthful and nourishing
than traditional Japanese food, a theme that we’ll
see recurring later on, because it had more meat,
wheat, oils, and fats.
Ramen wasn’t a hand-made
artisanal delight in those
days – the attraction was
largely speed and calories
History | 11

“As Japan became industrialized and more
urbanized in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries, Chinese restaurants and
movie theaters gradually replaced the buckwheat
noodle (soba) stands and comical storytelling
(rakugo) performances that had previously
dominated the cityscape. In this manner, ramen
production and consumption became an integral
component of modern urban life.”
In the 1940s, the war changed everything. At
first ramen essentially disappeared, a victim of
rationing and of the idea that this was no time
for frivolous luxuries like eating out. Food shortages
persisted after the war ended in 1945, and Solt says
that the years between 1944 and 1947 were the
worst period of hunger in Japan’s modern history.
He quotes a scholar of Japanese food born in 1937
writing of his memories of that period:
“From 1944 on, even in the countryside, the
athletic grounds of local schools were converted
into sweet potato fields. And we ate every part
of the sweet potato plant, from the leaf to the
tip of the root. We also ate every part of the
kabocha we grew, including the seeds and skin.
For protein, we ate beetles, beetle larvae, and
other insects that we found at the roots of the
plants we picked, which we roasted or mashed.
Even in the countryside, food was scarce.”
After the war ended, thousands of black markets
including food stands sprang up, despite being
technically illegal (the US occupation authorities
continued both food rationing and a ban on
outdoor food sellers). Because rice was hard
to come by and wheat was being imported
from the US, many foods based on wheat were
popular – ramen, as well as yakisoba, gyōza, and
okonomiyaki. Also heavy with garlic and oil, these
were referred to as “stamina” foods, a term still
in use today.
The dependence on U.S.-imported wheat flour as
a substitute for rice during and after the American
occupation set the stage for a couple of changes.
One was that a generation grew up eating foods
like bread, with the result that these are now a
standard part of the Japanese diet. The other is
that ramen took on an almost mythic status as
the food that nourished people in a time of great
hunger and despair.
Solt says that nowadays in retrospect that memory
contributes to ramen’s positive image, but at the
actual time people felt rather differently. Popular
culture such as radio and film used ramen as a
symbol of the still-desperate times – an indication
that a character can’t afford to eat anything more
expensive – and to highlight class differences and
the growing generation gap in dining habits, since
Okonomiyaki
12 | The Ramen Reference

as Japan’s
economy boomed
in the period
from 1955 – 73,
ramen boomed
as well.
History | 13

for older people the association with hearty food
for laborers still clung to the dish.
As Japan’s economy boomed in the period from
1955–73, ramen boomed as well. Tokyo in the
early 1960s was building venues for the 1964
Olympics as well as development inspired by
it, including major transportation projects like
new subways, the shinkansen, and five new
expressways. Vast construction projects required
vast numbers of construction workers who ate
vast numbers of bowls of ramen, and it also
became a staple for students and young people
who had grown up eating more wheat and meat.
During this time instant ramen was invented,
but that merits a history of its own.
However the idea that Western foods – including
wheat in particular – were healthier continued
to develop. The Ministry of Health and Welfare
actively promoted this idea and nutrition
scientists happily jumped on the bandwagon.
Some of this promotion and “science” took
the rather odd form of attributing cultural
differences and Western superiority – which
apparently went without saying – to the
difference in diet.
While the government and scientists were
pushing a wheat-based diet, ramen in particular
was still associated with poverty and struggle in
popular culture, but things were beginning to
change. With more money around to be spent,
ramen developed from a cheap pushcart product
into something you ate at a moderately priced
restaurant. And at the same time that instant
ramen – the most industrialized food possible
– was becoming popular, we see what could
be considered the first hints of the modern
hand-crafted ramen movement. In the 1970s,
something that was all the rage – at least
Cup ramen is one form of
instant ramen
14 | The Ramen Reference

This romanticization of the ramen maker is the
start of an entirely new symbolism around ramen.
according to the media at the time – was the
datsu-sara, “salaryman escapee.” These were
men who left successful careers to become
self-employed – farmers, say, or ramen cooks.
As someone who has written for newspapers, I can
tell you that the general rule is that you only need
to find three of something for an editor to call it
a trend. But one newspaper even ran a weekly
“Datsu-sara Report,” so if they could find enough
material for that, maybe it really was a thing. In
any case, in this context, running a ramen shop
was seen as the kind of work that provided a degree
of independence and creativity that wasn’t possible
in a corporate environment. This romanticization
of the ramen maker is the start of an entirely new
symbolism around ramen.
In the 1980s, ramen started to become almost as
much a fashion item as a food. The traditional
pushcarts were disappearing and the Chinese
restaurants and diners that used to sell it were
declining, replaced by the specialty ramen shop
with a more limited menu and a higher price.
The manual workers who were its old customer
base were also declining, and now the stereotypical
ramen eater started to be the young urban
consumer who was labeled with the term
Shinjinrui, “new breed.”
Rather than fuel for hard physical work, for many
ramen starts to become basically a hobby. The
phenomenon of waiting in line for hours at a
special ramen shop became common enough that
people who did it were given a name, “rāmen
gyōretsu.” The 80s also saw the start of the
obsession with special regional varieties of
ramen and fans who would travel to far-away
places especially to taste a new kind they’d read
about. And by the 1990s, Solt says:
“ramen chefs were appearing on television,
writing philosophical treatises, and achieving
celebrity status in Japanese popular culture,
while their fans were building museums and
Internet forums.”
Given its birth as a foreign import, and the central
role that foreign wheat plays in the dish, it’s odd
that ramen would become a symbol of traditional
Japan, but that’s exactly what happened. The new
customers had been born after the period of war
and post-war hardship, so its older associations
were purely nostalgic – a comfort food that seemed
native in contrast to elegant European gourmet
cuisine. Shops stopped having names and decor
with Chinese associations – no more red and white
norens – and the chefs began to dress differently:
Rāmen gyōretsu line up
outside of a ramenya
History | 15

“In the late 1990s and 2000s, however, younger
ramen chefs, inspired primarily by Kawahara
Shigemi, founder of the ramen shop Ippūdō,
started to wear Japanese Buddhist work clothing,
known as samue. Usually worn by Japanese
potters and other practitioners of traditional
arts, the samue, usually in purple or black, was
worn by craftsmen in eighteenth-century Japan…
The new clothing suggested that the ramen
maker was now considered a Japanese craftsman
with a Zen Buddhist sensibility rather than a
Chinese food chef.”
And now, instead of western food being argued to
produce superior people, apparently some started
using ramen to argue it was the other way around,
to the extent that it caused a backlash in some
quarters: one newspaper article headlined a section
on the ramen boom, “The Frightening Situation
Where Plain Old Ramen Becomes the Basis for
‘Theories of Japanese Superiority.”
And this brings us to where we are today, where
ramen shops are now appearing in fashionable
cities all over the world, presenting what’s seen
as a quintessentially Japanese dish:
“Ramen has gained a reputation as a
relatively affordable, youthful, and fashionable
representation of Japanese food culture, unlike
sushi, which has very different symbolic baggage.
Ramen is now an important component of both
official and unofficial attempts at remaking
‘Japan’ as a consumer brand for foreigners.”
The artisanal hand-made type of ramen and its
cultural baggage fits perfectly into modern culinary
obsessions – an earthy, authentic, hand-made
comfort food.
An example from
Ichicoro a new ramen
shop in Tampa Bay
16 | The Ramen Reference

Some shops put
the creation in the
hands of its customers
History | 17

general
overview
Ramen as a soup has many variants and
bases. This section discusses the defining
characteristics of ramen, how a bowl is
assembled and classified, and tips for
enjoying and appreciating authentic ramen.
A bowl of ramen usually consists of four
different components: the tare, the broth,
the noodles and the toppings.

Tare
A
bowl of ramen begins with small amount
of tare, about two tablespoons, placed at
the bottom of the bowl. The tare, or flavoring
oils/seasoning, is a small mixture of seasonings
and soup stocks that give ramen its depth and
complexity. Different shops have different recipes
and they are usually guided pretty closely as the
tare is one of the most important components
of a bowl.
There are three different kinds of tare and this
is usually how bowls of ramen are classified on
a menu. If you ever seen shio ramen or miso
ramen this is referring to the kind of tare being
used in the bowl. The three types of tare refer
to shio, shoyu, or miso.
Shio tare is salt based, usually utilizing a
combination of different kinds of salt from
across the country, as well mirin, sake, and
kombu(dried kelp). Shio tare is usually paired
with lighter broths, such as chicken and fish
based stocks to amplify the more subtle flavors
of these refreshing soups. If you’re looking for
something a little salty with lighter body, shio
ramen is what you’re looking for.
Shoyu tare is based on different soy sauces, as
well as kombu and other dried seafoods to add
a slight taste of umami to the soup. This kind of
tare is used throughout all different kinds of ramen,
from the lighter chicken and seafood stocks to the
heavier and richer pork-based variants. Shoyu
ramen is the perfect choice if you want a warmer
more complicated ramen variant as the soy sauce
gives both sweet, salty, and umami flavors to
the soup.
Miso tare is based on miso, or fermented bean
paste, usually found with garlic and sesame oils.
Miso tare adds a layer of heartiness to ramen,
bringing warmth and a little spice to the boil and
will most likely be paired up with the thicker pork
based broths. On a cold day miso will warm you
to the core, which is why miso ramen originated
in colder northern regions of japan.
Tare is the first component of a bowl and while it’s
used to classify a ramen, the broth also plays a role,
and such broths as Tonkotsu are generally classified
as their own.
General Overview | 19

Broth
The broth is the next part of a bowl of ramen,
poured into the bowl after the tare is added.
Like the tare ramen broth is a complex mixture
of flavors usually consisting of two parts, a stock
made of boiled bones, usually pork or chicken,
and dashi(seafood stock).
The bones used for ramen are usually the parts not
used for other things such as pigs feet and chicken
backs, which traces back to the early days of ramen
when it was street food made of whatever sellers
could find. These bones are boiled upwards of
twenty-four hours to release all the flavors into the
stock, and the make up varies based on the desired
heaviness. For shio ramens the broth is usually
comprised of more chicken bones and less fat
than the tonkotsu variants. This leads to a lighter,
clearer soup better for warm climates or summer
days. Meanwhile, tonkotsu, one of the most popular
broths, is made of mostly pork bones and fat which
gives it a milky, golden color and makes it much
thicker than other broths. The pork flavor in
tonkotsu is forward and unapologetic.
These bones are boiled upwards of twenty-four
hours to release all the flavors into the stock
Dashi is added to these stocks to balance them,
and is important because it usually combines
kombu, which adds the slight brininess to ramen,
and katsuobushi(dried bonito). The inclusion of
these ingredients differentiates ramen broth from
other similar soups such as Pho or Chinese variants.
20 | The Ramen Reference

Noodles
Laid into the bowl after the broth are the
noodles, which are another distinction
between ramen and other Asian soups.
Ramen noodles are a blend of wheat flour, salt,
water, and a blend of kansui(alkaline waters). The
kansui is what gives ramen noodles their biggest
distinction from other noodles. It changes the
texture, making them firmer and springier so they
hold up better in the steaming hot broth. Ramen
noodles also tend to be thinner than other Japanese
noodles such as Udon, although they vary widely
from region to region. Chef ’s usually look for a few
specific qualities in the noodles they choose for
their soup: springiness, how the noodles cling
to the broth, and the texture. For a lighter soup
you usually want something that holds more of
the flavor where as in a tonkostu soup that might
be overpowering.
When noodles are made there is a lot of attention
paid to how they are placed in the bowl and how
they are strained. One of the most animated
portions of a kitchen is when the chef strains the
noodles, usually strongly throwing his arms out to
get rid of all the water in every directions. They
are then carefully laid into the bowl folding over
themselves to prevent them from clumping in the
bottom of the bowl.
Homemade
ramen noodles
General Overview | 21

Toppings
No soup would be complete without toppings
and the two most common toppings are
chāshū(braised pork belly) and ajitsuke tamago(soy
marinated eggs). Chāshū should be soft and easy
to tear, while also usually being marinated in a
mixture of soy sauce, mirin, and sake to give a
slight sweetness. Ajitsuke tamago is also marinated
in a similar mixture and is soft boiled, so the whites
are firm and the yolk is runny. In the top ramen
shops in the world these toppings are usually
warmed right before being placed in the bowl
and then they continue to warm in the soup.
Other common toppings are scallions, corn,
mushrooms, garlic, menma(fermented bamboo
shoots), nori(dried seaweed), bean sprouts, carrots,
and naruto(fish cakes). These toppings are usually
chosen by the chef but can also be added if
desired. On the table there is usually a wide
selection of peppers, powders, and oils to add
to the flavor the most common of which are
chili powder and sesame oil.
Nori
Dried Seaweed
Naruto
Fish Cake
Moyashi
Bean sprouts
Kinoko
Mushroom
Chāshū
Roast Pork
Tamago
Egg
Wakegi
Scallion
Menma
Bamboo
22 | The Ramen Reference

Tips
Below are some tips to getting the most flavor out
of your ramen where ever you are. However, if
there’s one rule of thumb, its slurp and slurp loud.
In ramen culture it’s a great sign of enjoyment.
1
2
Don’t wait, ramen is cooked and served at
very specific temperatures and the noodles
are designed to be eaten straight away waiting
changes the texture and consistency. It is not
considered impolite to begin eating as soon
as your food is served and is expected in
ramenya’s in Japan.
Taste the broth without any toppings or
mixing of the soup. This demonstrates
the flavors and effort put into the
broth’s preparation.
3
4
5
Similar
Gently stir together the soup, the goal here
is to mix and release the tare and aroma oils
into the broth.
The noodles should be slurped while eating
ramen. It is actually the opposite of being
rude, not slurping your noodles can be
considered offensive while eating ramen.
It is both a show of respect and necessity.
While slurping take air into your mouth to
cool down the noodles while you’re eating.
to other cultures it is also customary
to never leave food behind while eating ramen.
Including the leftover broth.
Fresh Tokyo style
shoyu ramen
General Overview | 23

egional
differences
Ramen varies by region for a few reasons:
locally available ingredients, climate, and
historical tradition. In Japan each region
has very distinct kinds of ramen, while
the United States is slowly beginning to
follow this tradition. To read more about
this change and what that means head
to Interviews and Conversations (Pgs 40
- 49). The following section discusses
the regional differences across Japan.

Asahikawa, 24
Sapporo, 24
Tsubame-Sanjo, 32
Hakata, 37
Shirakawa, 28
Onomichi, 35
Hakodate, 26
Akayu, 27
Tokushima, 34
Kitakata, 27
Kumamoto, 38
Wakayama, 34
Kyoto, 33
Yokohama Ie kei, 33
Tokyo, 28 & 30
Kurume, 37
Kagoshima, 39
Regional Differences | 25

Asahikawa
Located at the base of the mountains smack
in the middle of Japan’s northernmost island,
Asahikawa is Hokkaido’s second-largest city, and
is best known for its zoo and a rich ramen tradition.
Asahikawa ramen is a blend of pork and chicken
stocks and a seafood broth, making for a rich
and complex soup with a shoyu base. The bowl is
topped off with an insulating layer of lip-scalding
melted lard to prevent the soup from losing heat in
the frigid winter months. The current nationwide
trend of blended “double” soup traces its roots to
the Asahikawa ramen tradition, which is celebrated
with an annual summer ramen festival.
Style Shoyu
Noodles
Toppings roast pork, scallions, bamboo shoots
Sapporo
The northern city of Sapporo is one of Japan’s
most famous ramen destinations, best known
as the birthplace of miso ramen. Although Sapporo
had its share of noodle shops before World War II,
it cemented its place in ramen lore in 1955, when
a customer at the noodle house Aji no Sanpei asked
the chef to dump some noodles in his miso and
pork soup. A new classic was born, and Sapporo
ramen has since evolved into a rich and fatty soup
accented with minced pork, ginger, and garlic.
(Traditionally the miso base, broth, and vegetables
are cooked together in a larded wok before being
transferred to the bowl.) Sapporo miso ramen
was the first regional style to take off nationally
in the 1960s, and the city remains a ramen mecca,
boasting a “Ramen Alley” with over a dozen shops.
Style Miso
Noodles
Toppings roast pork, scallions, bamboo shoots,
bean sprouts, ginger, garlic, butter, corn
26 | The Ramen Reference

Sapporo miso ramen
Regional Differences | 27

Hakodate
Ramen came to Hakodate the same way it
came to the rest of Japan—via the slow boat
from China. For reasons lost to history, the standard
soup served by the Chinese community in Hakodate
had a thinner and lighter broth than the soy-based
soup that took hold in Yokohama and Tokyo. As
a result, this bustling maritime town is home to a
mild, yellow chicken-and-pork broth boiled long
and slow. Hakodate is the only city in Japan to
claim shio ramen as its own creation, and the style
is dominant within the town’s precincts. Toppings
tend toward the standards, and noodles are cooked
to be quite soft—comfort food on a cold winter day.
Style Shio
Noodles
Toppings roast pork, scallions, bamboo shoots, nori,
spinach, naruto
Hakodate shio ramen
28 | The Ramen Reference

Akayu
One day in 1960, Sato Kazumi, the founder
of ramen shop Ryushanhai, dropped a
dollop of miso paste into the leftover soup and
noodles he had taken home to eat with his family.
After a bit of tweaking, Sato developed one of
Japan’s most unusual ramen styles—sweet and
mild ramen topped with an angry red ball of
blended miso, chili, and garlic that slowly dissolves
into the soup. Pop it in your mouth all at once and
you’ll breathe fire like the Dragon of Shanghai
that gives his shop its name. Thick, wavy, and
chewy noodles topped with a dusting of powdered
aonori seaweed swim below.
Style Miso
Noodles
Toppings roast pork, scallions, bamboo shoots,
naruto, miso-chili-garlic paste, aonori
Kitakata
The small town of Kitakata boasts the highest
ramen-to-resident ratio in the country,
clocking in at roughly one shop for every 300
inhabitants. Kitakatans are known to eat their
light, clean, shoyu-based soup for breakfast. In
the bowl, Kitakata keeps it simple, with a no-frills
soup and minimal toppings. Noodles are hand-cut
to be flat, wide, and curly; high water content
makes them toothsome and chewy.
Style Shoyu
Noodles
Toppings roast pork, scallions, bamboo shoots,
Regional Differences | 29

Shirakawa
As in most cities in Japan, ramen in Shirakawa
dates back to the prewar period, when it was
served in Chinese restaurants and street-side stalls.
Takei Toraji learned to sling noodles at those stalls
before opening up his own shop, Tora Shokudo,
where Shirakawa ramen proper took shape. Despite
idolizing the bumbling postwar comedic folk hero
Tora-san to the point of cooking with a bottle in
one hand, Takei managed to develop a refined
ramen characterized by light, simple soup and
hand-kneaded noodles. Like most local styles
across northeastern Japan, Shirakawa ramen
features an unadorned shoyu broth that draws
its taste from an abundance of local mineral
water, which also makes for springy noodles
with lots of give in the chew.
Style Shoyu
Noodles
Toppings roast pork, scallions, bamboo shoots,
naruto, nori, spinach
Tokyo Ramen
Drawing from the soy-based broth brought
to Japan by Chinese immigrants more than
100 years ago, Tokyo’s shoyu ramen is made from
pork, chicken, veggies, kombu, katsuobushi, and
other dried fish. The standard bowl contains nori,
scallions, roast pork, and bamboo shoots set atop
curly noodles, and nowhere in the metropolis is
very far from a neighborhood shop or late-night
pushcart slinging this nostalgic standard. This
simple-seeming yet subtly complex style is probably
the most recognizable image of ramen for millions
of hungry slurpers around the world.
Style Shoyu
Noodles
Toppings roast pork, bamboo shoots, naruto, nori,
spinach
30 | The Ramen Reference

Tokyo shoyu ramen
Regional Differences | 31

Tokyo Tsukemen
Ramen’s popularity has grown by leaps and
bounds over the last decade, and one of the
most notable trends has been the rise of tsukemen.
As much a different concept of ramen as a regional
style, undressed tsukemen noodles are dipped into
an accompanying bowl of fishy, barely diluted
broth before slurping. Though tsukemen has taken
the ramen world by storm of late, it traces its
history to the early postwar era, when the
now-legendary “God of Ramen,” Kazuo
Yamagishi of Tokyo’s Taishoken, decided to
offer his customers soup and noodles separately.
The sweet, spicy, vinegary broth clinging to
extra-fat noodles has spawned literally thousands
of imitators—tsukemen has staked its claim
in the noodle pantheon.
Style Shoyu
Noodles
Toppings roast pork, scallions, bamboo shoots,
naruto
Tokyo Abura Soba
Literally meaning “oily noodles,” abura soba
is ramen sans soup. Instead of sitting in broth,
freshly boiled noodles are placed atop a thin layer
of concentrated flavor essence (tare) and mixed
by diners, who add vinegar, chili oil, and other
toppings before stirring and slurping. This seemingly
postmodern snack actually dates back to the
mid-’50s, when a series of shops located in the
suburbs west of Tokyo began serving soupless bowls.
Style Shoyu
Noodles
Toppings roast pork, scallions, bamboo shoots,
raw egg, garlic
32 | The Ramen Reference

tsukemen
has staked
its claim in
the noodle
pantheon
Regional Differences | 33

Tokyo abura soba
shoyu ramen
Tsubame-Sanjo
What’s the cure for living in a part of
the country known mostly for freezing
temperatures and silverware factories? Lard, lard,
and more lard. The twin cities of Tsubame and
Sanjo lay claim to one of the most unusual and
unhealthy ramen variants anywhere in Japan—an
already rich broth made of pork bones, chicken,
and sardines is topped with an almost obscene
amount of suspended pork fat. There’s enough
lard and raw white onion shaken on top that it’s
almost impossible to make out the extra-thick,
linguine-like noodles hidden below.
Style Shoyu
Noodles
Toppings roast pork, bamboo shoots,
chopped white onions
34 | The Ramen Reference

Yokohama Ie-kei
Most ramen histories trace the introduction
of ramen to Japan to Yokohama, where it
arrived with Chinese traders in the late nineteenth
century. These days, Yokohama is better known for
ie-kei ramen, a viscous, salty, and fatty tonkotsushoyu
style pioneered at Yoshimuraya in 1974.
The shop’s many imitators add the character ie( 家 ,
meaning “home”) to their names in tribute to the
founder of this open-source ramen. When ordering,
diners can calibrate the firmness of the noodles,
the amount of suspended fat, and the saltiness of
the soup to the delight of their tongue and the
detriment of their arteries. Yokohama is also
home to the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum,
a must-visit for any noodle aficionado.
Style Tonkotsu
Noodles
Toppings three sheets of nori, spinach, garlic, ginger
Kyoto
Given Kyoto’s cultural reputation, you might
expect its ramen to be a rarefied and refined
reworking of the humble noodle soup. But the old
capital is home to two distinct types of down-home
ramen: the thinner assari-kei shoyu ramen, and a
thick, gritty chicken-soup kotteri-keiramen, both
of which are referred to as “Kyoto ramen.” The
former is a blend of pork and chicken broth, with
a dark soy base; the latter is a rich porridge-like
soup culled mostly from chicken, topped with spicy
bean paste, chives, garlic, and pungent local
kujnoegi onions—it’s quite popular with the
town’s large student population.
Style Shoyu
Noodles
Toppings
Assari-kei roast pork, scallions, bamboo shoots,
nori,butter
Kotteri-kei roast pork, scallions, bamboo shoots,
garlic, chili bean paste
Regional Differences | 35

Wakayama
Whereas eastern Japan is dominated by
thinner shoyu ramen, western Japan is
the kingdom of rich, porky tonkotsu soup—and
Wakayama is the happy medium where the two
meet. Known by locals as chuka soba (“Chinese
noodles”), Wakayama ramen is based on a strong
soy sauce tare and a heap of long-simmered pork
bones. The noodles resemble the long, thin, firm
threads of Hakata ramen, but you won’t fail to
find a pink-and-white fish cake of the kind that
pop up often in Tokyo.
Style Tonkotsu Noodles
Toppings roast pork, scallions, bamboo shoots,
naruto
Tokushima
The smallest of Japan’s four main islands,
Shikoku is not known as a ramen hot spot.
As the story goes, resourceful Tokushimans made
broth out of the leftover pork bones from the many
ham factories located nearby, and mixed in some
extra-strong aged soy sauce to craft a tasty bowl
not far removed from its cross-strait kissin’ cousin,
Wakayama ramen. Add a few strips of thinly sliced
pork belly, then break a raw egg on top of it all,
and you’ve got a delicious dish. Tokushima ramen
is sometimes divided into “black,” “yellow,” and
“white” styles, in descending order of the strength
of the soup served at a given shop.
Style Tonkotsu Noodles
Toppings roast pork, scallions, bamboo shoots,
bean sprouts, raw egg
36 | The Ramen Reference

Onomichi shoyu ramen
Onomichi
Onomichi ramen emerged as a distinct style in
the years after World War II. It’s a relatively
straightforward formula: take a lot of chicken, a
little bit of pork, and add some local seafood—but
it isn’t Onomichi ramen without a big helping of
cooked lard and suspended pork fat on top. A shoyu
base and homemade flat-wavy-chewy noodles round
out the bowl. Onomichi got its own stop on the
bullet train in 1988, and passengers have been
known to get off the train just to grab a bowl.
Style Shoyu
Noodles
Toppings roast pork, scallions, bamboo shoots,
Regional Differences | 37

Hakata tonkotsu ramen
38 | The Ramen Reference

Hakata
Broken pork bones are cooked over a high flame
for days at a time here until the marrow seeps
out, giving off a rancid odor that belies the smooth
and creamy broth. While eating at street-side stalls
along Fukuoka’s Nakasu River, drunken diners can
order unlimited extra servings (kaedama) of the
thin, unrisen noodles to dump in their soup. The
final component of Hakata ramen are the tableside
toppings, including sesame seeds, garlic, pink
pickled ginger, spicy mustard greens, and soy base
to strengthen the soup.
Style Tonkotsu Noodles
Toppings roast pork, scallions, nori, pickled ginger,
garlic
Kurume
Few towns have exerted as great an influence
on ramen history as Kurume. In 1937,
Miyamoto Tokyo’s street-side stand Nankin
Senryo started serving porky tonkotsu ramen; ten
years later, a pot of bones left simmering too hot
for too long at the nearby shop Sankyu proved
to be a happy accident when the chef found the
stinky and milky-white marrow-infused soup to
be highly delicious. The broth with the beastly
stench quickly earned devotees, and Kurume
ramen spread across Kyushu, giving the southern
island its distinctive style. Bits of fried lard, lots of
melted marrow, and tableside offerings of sesame,
pickled ginger, and garlic give Kurume ramen a
pungent punch.
Style Tonkotsu Noodles
Toppings roast pork, scallions, nori,
pickled ginger, garlic
Regional Differences | 39

Kumamoto tonkotsu ramen
Kumamoto
Tonkotsu ramen spread from its birthplace
in Kurume to take root in Kumamoto
prefecture, where locals started cutting it with a
little chicken broth. Like all Kyushu prefectures,
Kumamoto serves straight noodles, though they’re
a bit thicker and softer than those to the north. In
addition to the standard toppings, most bowls of
Kumamoto also feature pickled mustard greens,
sliced wood-ear mushrooms (kikurage), bean
sprouts, and cabbage. What sets Kumamoto ramen
apart, and keeps its fans devoted, is a heavy hand
with the garlic, laid on as both fried garlic chips
and the black liquid known as mayu, made
from garlic burned in sesame oil.
Style Tonkotsu Noodles
Toppings roast pork, scallions, nori,
mushrooms, garlic
40 | The Ramen Reference

Kagoshima
Known for its strong liquor, incomprehensible
dialect, rebellious spirit, and mutton-chopped
elders, Kagoshima is Japan’s Deep South. These
ramen cooks have been using their local brand of
black pig (known stateside as Berkshire pork) since
way before it was cool. The only ramen in Kyushu
that doesn’t trace its origins back to Kurume,
Kagoshima ramen features a surprisingly mild
broth of pork, chicken, and veggie stock finished
with burnt onions. Noodles are cooked quite
a bit past al dente, and can be either quite thin
or quite thick, reflecting influences from both
Okinawa and Taiwan.
Style Tonkotsu Noodles
Toppings roast pork, scallions, bean sprouts,
mushrooms
Kagoshima tonkotsu ramen
Regional Differences | 41

interviews &
conversations
The following interviews give two
different perspectives on ramen. The
first is between Hiroshi Osaki, the most
highly regarded ramen critic of Japan, and
Ivan Orkin, one of the most acclaimed
chefs. The second is from three chefs
in Oakland, California, who are creating
what they call “California Ramen.”

Hiroshi Osaki, Ramen Critic
Hiroshi Osaki and Ivan Orkin are two of the
biggest names in ramen today. The first
created RamenBank, an online resource cataloging
and rating ramen shops across Japan, and the
second is a New York born chef making waves
in the Japanese and now American ramen scenes.
This interview was originally published in Ivan
Orkin’s book Ivan Ramen, and takes a look at
Osaki-san’s history, the importance of ramen and
his impression of Ivan’s store in Tokyo. Osaki-san
eats roughly eight hundred bowls of ramen a year,
and his word is valued above all else in the world of
ramenyas; he can make or break a restaurant with
a single review.
As a foreigner to Japan, Ivan Orkin was under
intense scrutiny and has finally broken his way
into the elite ramen makers of Tokyo, through
his years of dedication to the traditional Japanese
craft of ramen.
Interviews & Conversation | 43

Ivan Orkin Why did you start eating ramen, and
when did ramen eating become the project that
it is for you now?
Osaki-san I was born in Fukushima Prefecture, a
place famous for Kitakata ramen. When I was
young, I would always eat Kitakata ramen and
figured that that was what ramen was. But then
I moved to Tokyo, and found tonkotsu soup and
miso soup, and noodles that could be thick or thin.
This piqued my curiosity. Each ramen
shop had a different style, so I just
started eating. If you ask a mountain
climber why he climbs mountains,
he’ll say, “The mountain was there.”
I decided to eat ramen because there
was a ramen shop in front of me.
Ivan Orkin What’s your mountain?
What’s your goal in eating so
much ramen?
Osaki-san My purpose is to try every
ramen shop. But every month sixty
new ramen shops open in Tokyo
alone. Each new ramen shop has a new style and
a new type of ramen, and I want to eat everything.
It’s an endless goal, endless eating. This year beef
ramen appeared. Last year, there was none. Ten
years ago, there was no cold ramen. Ramen history
only started a hundred years ago. If sushi is an
adult, then one-hundred-year-old ramen is just a
child, a junior-high-school student. If it studies
and grows, it will become an adult.
Ivan Orkin Where does ramen exist in the pantheon
of Japanese cuisine?
Osaki-san I don’t think of ramen as Japanese
cuisine. Ramen has become a world cuisine.
Ramen is popular in New York, in France, in
Germany. Everybody knows sushi as sushi. Until
recently, everybody thought of ramen as just
noodles. Now people can distinguish ramen as
ramen, and like sushi, it is its own unique cuisine.
Ivan Orkin Can you explain the idea of kodawari?
Osaki-san A long time ago, we only had imported
American cars. Then we began to look closely and
change small things, developing something new.
The same thing began in ramen in 1996.
When I was young, I’d
eat two hundred or three
hundred bowls of ramen
in one year — a very slow
pace...Now I eat around eight
hundred bowls each year.
Ivan Orkin Why 1996? Was there an event that
changed things?
Osaki-san There was. The Internet started.
Customers began putting images of ramen on
the Internet. Before that, a ramen maker could
visit different ramen shops and just steal their
techniques. After 1996, you could see if one
ramen shop was a copy of another. Ramen shops
had to start developing original styles. Ramen
history is one hundred years old now. For ninety
years, it was the same, but since 1996, the number
of types of ramen has doubled. The difference
before and after 1996 is like BC and AD.
Ivan Orkin Is that when you began seriously
eating ramen?
44 | The Ramen Reference

Osaki-san I began eating ramen 45 years ago. I’m
fifty-three years old now. When I was young, I’d eat
two hundred or three hundred bowls of ramen in
one year—a very slow pace. But after the Internet,
after 1996, I could get more information about
new shops. Now I eat around eight hundred bowls
each year.
Ivan Orkin Jesus—do you eat anything else?
Osaki-san I love Italian and French food. But even
after eating a full meal, I can still eat three bowls
of ramen. I used to go to ramen shops and I’d eat
a rice bowl on the side, but now I just stick to the
ramen. The first time I came to Ivan Ramen I
ate two bowls: the shio and the shoyu.
Ivan Orkin What was your first impression of Ivan
Ramen? Be honest.
Osaki-san Ramen is a very sensitive food, and I had
never seen a foreigner make delicious ramen. As I
walked here from the train station, I thought maybe
I’d find something simple, but not delicious. I was
skeptical. When I arrived, I saw the kitchen and
what you were
Rich—poor, everyone
can eat ramen.
doing. I saw
that you were
warming up
the chashu
before serving
it; the chashu is usually just sliced and then placed
cold on the ramen. That was the first thing that
impressed me. Even Japanese ramen makers
don’t make their own noodles, but you make
everything—noodles, soup, chashu, everything.
When I ate the ramen, I realized it was not a
halfway bowl, it was perfect. I saw that ramen’s
history had changed here. You were a chef before;
your skill as a chef improved the ramen. Sometimes
an Italian chef or a French chef may open a ramen
shop, but they’ll make Western-style ramen. You
still have traces of a Western style, but your ramen
really is Japanese.
Ivan Ramen +, Ivan’s
second storefront
in Tokyo
Interviews & Conversation | 45

Ivan Orkin How often do you go into a shop and
see something new, something that changes the
history of ramen?
Osaki-san Twenty or thirty percent show me
something new. But each time I come to Ivan
Ramen, I don’t see the same thing as other
ramen shops.
Ivan Orkin Do you generally revisit ramen shops?
Osaki-san There are two types of ramen junkies:
the repeater and the collector. I’m a collector—I
try to eat as many different bowls as I can. There
are probably many hundreds of people who eat
five hundred bowls of ramen in a year. Then
there’s those who have maybe one bowl a day—
there are probably about five thousand of those
people in Japan. I eat about eight hundred bowls
each year.
Ivan Orkin What is your idea of a perfect bowl
of ramen?
Osaki-san I’ve never met the perfect bowl of ramen.
In general, I like shoyu ramen, because it reminds
me of the ramen I ate when I was a child—it’s
nostalgic ramen.
Ivan Orkin Is there an objective model—should the
noodles be one way and the soup one way?
Osaki-san I can’t say that the noodles or soup
should be one way or another. If that were the
case, ramen would stop evolving. I want ramen
to keep improving. Sushi and soba are very
traditional, so it’s hard to introduce a new style.
Ramen can change. Plus, not everyone can afford
to eat expensive sushi at places like Jiro. Rich,
poor—everyone can eat ramen.
Shoyu ramen, Osaki-sans’
nostalgic favorite
46 | The Ramen Reference

Ramen Shop, Oakland California
The following interview was conducted
between Rachel Kong and two of the chefs of
Ramen Shop: Sam White and Rayneil de Guzman
who had both previously worked at Chez Passine.
They’ve brought with them the ideas and food
sourcing and the concepts they learned at Chez
Panisse and have been applying it to the world
of Ramen.
growth of not only copying but creating a new
tradition of ramen, one that could not be found
anywhere else, and do so with a wonderful nod
to the Japanese traditions.
Ramen Shop in Oakland has been striving to
create their own idea of California ramen and
carry the torch of what ramen can become in
the United States. They are the beginning to the
Interviews & Conversation | 47

Rayneil Those places, they’re good, but at the same
time, you wonder about the sourcing—where the
ingredients come from.
Sam Some of those places are great. But since we
all go to Japan a lot, the experience there becomes
what we’re measuring ourselves against. It doesn’t
matter what else is happening in California.
Rayneil One specific trip was when we went
to Afuri, in Ebisu. That beautiful balance of
acidity—it just opened our eyes to a different
style of ramen. We wanted to reinterpret it
through a Northern California lens. There,
it’s yuzukosho. For us, the citrus that’s most
defining about the Bay Area are Meyer lemons.
Everybody has them, and they’re so plentiful.
At Ramen Shop local
ingredients play a large
role in the menu
Rachel Kong I talked to Sam and Rayneil (JJ was in
Mendocino harvesting nori) about the hows and
whys of Ramen Shop.
Sam We all had separately gone to Japan; JJ lived
in Japan for six years, up in Hokkaido. We’d hang
out and wonder, How come nothing like that exists
here? There’s gotta be something that exists around
here. And so we’d do these drives to San Jose and
San Mateo. Some of those places are good, but
we hit that moment of: We live in Oakland and
there’s no good ramen in Oakland? That seems
totally crazy.
Sam We have a good network of people who just
bring us shopping bags of Meyer lemons from
their trees. If someone comes in and brings twenty
pounds of mushrooms—great, we’re going to play
with mushrooms. One of the things that makes
what we do different from a lot of ramen places
is we’re changing our menu every day. We’re
changing what the toppings are, we’re adjusting
what the broth is, what the tare is. It’s a reflection
of what’s available.
Rayneil Someone just came in and dropped off
some chanterelles from Canyon, right over the
hill. That’s something we drew from at Chez: the
mushroom foragers would always just come in this
time of year. It changes your menu. We had an
idea for the menu tomorrow, but now we have
great mushrooms and those beautiful blood oranges.
If someone comes in and brings twenty pounds
of mushrooms—great, we’re going to play
with mushrooms
48 | The Ramen Reference

Sam It goes back to what ramen is
in Japan—each style is a reflection
of that region and what’s available.
There’s a reason butter corn comes
from Hokkaido and not from Koshu.
We’re trying to create the Northern
California style of ramen. We’re
trying to represent our area and what
is available to us, and really the best
of what is available to us. When you
talk to those really, really good ramen
chefs in Japan, they are very
particular about where their eggs
and flour are coming from. We’re specific in that
same way. People are not using all this awesome
seaweed from California. We have this incredibly
long coast with so much beautiful stuff, and when
you taste that real nori it blows every other kind
of over-produced, over-processed nori out of
the water.
But we’re not fixed to one style. That’s one of
the things about Chez Panisse and why it’s been
successful for forty-plus years. It’s a constant
evolution, and it’s a constant conversation with
people who are bringing in produce. Five years ago
it was almost impossible to get yuzu anywhere—
and now when it’s in season, we get this awesome
rush of it. In ten years, I can’t really speak to what
it’s gonna be, but I’m definitely excited.
Rayneil Every time we go back to Japan we draw
inspiration. For a period of time we really loved
tonkotsu, and it was our goal to develop our style.
I really like our niboshi, the light shoyu style we’ve
had in Tokyo. The veggie—our shoyu Meyer
lemon one—has become a staple. I didn’t think
we could do a veggie stock, because to me, the
pork- or meat-based stock is one of the defining
characteristics of ramen. But it happened, and
I think and it’s as good as our pork ramen.
What’s seasonal definitely dictates the menu, and
there’s also our mood. Sometimes we want that
We’re specific in that same
way. People are not using
all this awesome seaweed
from California. We have this
incredibly long coast with so
much beautiful stuff
heavy, rich ramen. Right now, tonight, we’re going
to do the gyokai tonkotsu with really beautiful
mushrooms and green garlic, which is in season
now. In the summer, when corn is in season, we
do the Hokkaido butter corn miso and it’s so good.
One beautiful thing is talking to customers. We
have so many regulars and they get the different
nuances of the bowls—particularly the shoyu,
because it’s one of the more delicate bowls.
The toppings really come through. In the
summer we’ll do a tomato confit that brings
in a little richness and a little acidity. Right
now we have a butternut squash that we roast.
The different parts of the bowls really pick
up the flavors of the different ingredients.
Rachel Kong And it’s true: the broth in the Veggie
Shoyu somehow tastes different from quadrant
to quadrant. Under the shiitake and oyster
mushrooms, the broth is deep and earthy; near
the squash and cauliflower, it’s sweeter, almost
caramelized. The vegetables in the Veggie Shoyu
are grown super locally; the pork in the tonkotsu
is from Llano Seco in Chico. But Ramen Shop
doesn’t shy from using ingredients flown in
from Japan, either.
Rayneil Almost everything is local. The only
exception is the shoyu. We used to dry some of
our own fish, because we have the anchovies and
sardines that are essential to making the dashi—
but from our trips to Japan we’ve seen their whole
Interviews & Conversation | 49

process, and we just can’t touch what they make.
The dried fish is from Japan. But the miso is
from California.
Sam There are some ingredients that have no
equivalent in California. That being said, so much
of our menu is our appetizers, fried rice, and other
non-ramen food, which is really about highlighting
local stuff. Fried rice with squid is all Monterey Bay
squid, super beautiful, straight out of the water
that morning. We do a lot of tartare with local fish
from right outside the Golden Gate. Obviously all
of the greens and all of the produce are from here.
Rayneil The flour from Hokkaido is very special,
but we wanted to get organic flour from the United
States. So we use Central Milling; flour+water and
Pizzaiolo uses it for their pizza, too.
California cuisine is really
changing from this kind of
Mediterranean flavor profile
toa much more Pacific
flavor profile
Rachel Kong Ramen Shop strikes me as a place that
could not exist anywhere but Oakland. And it’s
also a part of the Bay Area restaurant community—
chefs who care about sourcing, and who are
learning from one another.
Sam I used to say it more—I feel it less and less—
but I feel like Oakland is a blank canvas, there’s a
lot of space to fill in and you have a lot of room
to be creative and try things. Our rent isn’t crazy
crazy cheap, but it’s much cheaper than San
Francisco or New York. We can get a liquor
license for relatively cheap and we can afford
to run a business while still getting the best produce
possible and experimenting.
Rayneil At the farmers’ market, we see people from
Chez, from flour+water, from Pizzaiolo, the State
Bird people. It’s your chance to talk about what
you’re doing, what looks good.
Sam That’s the big thing about sourcing. If you’re
connected to good farms and farmers, that becomes
your community. For us, it’s so exciting when
farmers come in here. Those are the people we
appreciate the most—especially this younger
generation of farmers. Kids in their late teens,
early twenties, who obviously want to hang out
and party and be part of a cool scene, but are also
the ones who are taking on the idea of growing
organic produce for the next twenty years. Watching
that community grow is really exciting
to me.
Rayneil When I started at Chez, the
organic farms up at Yolo or down in
Santa Cruz, no one was doing any
bok choy, nobody was doing any
daikon. Now those are staples.
Sam California cuisine is really changing
from this kind of Mediterranean flavor
profile to a much more Pacific flavor
profile—and because it’s California,
there are fewer rules. A lot of our Japanese friends
come here and they try the fried rice are like, Well,
this is not Japanese, but it’s awesome. The same
thing happens with our ramen. Some people have
called it not authentic or traditional—but at the
same time, it’s good. We’re not trying to replicate
somebody else’s style of ramen, we’re really trying
to create our own.
50 | The Ramen Reference

Veggie ramen from the
Ramen Shop in Oakland
Interviews & Conversation | 51

glossary
Many of the items throughout this book
are refered to by their japanese names.
This index provides direct translations
for easier reading.

Ajitsuke Tamago
Marinatred Egg
Aonori
Powdered Seaweed
Katsuobushi
Fermented Tuna Shavings (replace bonito flakes)
Chāshū
Roast Pork
Dashi
Fish Stock
Ichimi
Dried Red Chili Peppers
Iriko Niboshi
Dried baby Anchovies/Sardines
Kinoko
Mushrooms
Kombu
Kelp
Kansui
Alkaline Water
Miso
Fermented Soybean Paste
Moyashi
Bean Sprouts
Naruto
Fish Cakes
Nori
Dried Seaweed
Sake
Rice wine (there is a difference between cooking
sake and other forms)
Shio
Salt
Shoyu
Soy Sauce
Tonkotsu
Pork Bone
Wakegi
Scallions
Menma
Fermented Bamboo Shoots
Mirin
Lower alcohol rice wine, usually sweeter than sake.
Glossary | 53

sources
This book was made using sourced
content and photography from many
different fields, authors, and photographers.
Anything not attributed in the following
section was written by myself.

Content
History
“The Social History of Ramen” written by Linda
Lombardi for Tofugu.com
General Overview
“Ramen Anatomy: The Four Parts of a Bowl
of Ramen That You Need to Know” written by
Dwight Co for Pepper.ph
Regional Differences
“A guide to the Regional Ramen of Japan” written
by Nate Shockey for Luckypeach.com
Interviews & Conversation
“Hiroshi Osaki, Ramen Critic” is an interview
published in Ivan Orkin’s book Ivan Ramen
“Ramen Shop, Oakland California” is an
interview conducted by Rachel Kong for
Luckypeach.com
Photography
Introduction
Pinterest(5)
History
Elliegoeseast.wordpress(8)
Samira Bouaou for the Epoch Times(9)
MonAn9.com(10)
Keystone/Getty Images(11)
The New York Post(12)
Japan Today(13)
Jason Behnken/The Tampa Tribune(14)
Tania Savayan/Journal News(15)
General Overview
Zagat(18)
Christine Elise McCarthy(19)
Reddit user “Ramen_Lord”(21)
Regional Differences
Girlmeetsfood.com(25)
Esra Crabbe/Wattention.com(26)
Reddit user “Ramen_Lord”(29)
Smube.com(31)
Anakjajan.wordpress(32)
Tokyofox.wordpress(35)
Seejapan.co.uk(36)
Vanbrosia.com(38)
Nihonehime.blogspot(39)
Interviews & Conversation
Ivan Ramen(41)
Ivanramen.com(43)
Imgur(44)
Shespoised.wordpress(45)
Erin Kunkel/Kinfolk(46)
Therobotmusteat.com(49)
Sources | 55

colophon
This book was compiled, designed, and
illustrated by Nikolai Laba for the Spring
2016 Capstone project at the Washington
University in St. Louis Sam Fox School of
Visual Arts & Design. It was printed at
Marvel Printing, on Mohawk Superfine
smooth ultrawhite 100 lb text using
Tabac Sans and Baskerville.