An inexpensive street food, ramen is a favorite fast food for the working man (I don’t usually see very many women in ramen shops). For college students. And, for foodies, too. Ramen is served at Michelin starred restaurants here in Tokyo who has the most Michelin starred restaurants in the world as listed in the 2021 Michelin Guide. As you’d expect, Michelin starred restaurants are expensive, but I’ve heard that in Tokyo you can eat ramen from some Michelin starred restaurants for ¥1000 ($10).
Last night Don and I met for dinner. We walked in the narrow doorway of a ramen shop down the street from our apartment. To our right was a machine that kind of looked like a vending machine. We studied the kinds of ramen we could get, we chose the one we wanted with the sauce we wanted and then we fed in a ¥1000 bill (~$10) and then a ticket spit out. Pulled down a lever and got change back. A young waiter quickly came up and took our tickets. I also got a Coca Cola. No beer. During the State of Emergency for COVID no alcohol can be sold at restaurants.
There are four major types of Japanese ramen, decided by base flavor: shio (salt-based ramen), shoyu (soy sauce-based ramen), miso (soybean paste-flavored ramen), and tonkotsu (pork bone broth ramen). Ramen may be different depending on what region of the country you are visiting.
I am interested in finding the vegan version of ramen. It is hard to believe that without the yummy fatty pork, ramen will still be ramen. We will see. Japanese restaurant food is often much better than American, but it is not always healthy. Though traditional Japanese meals center around rice and vegetables, most meals also include some fish, meat, or eggs. Restaurant food, especially fast food spots, will serve food high in fat and low in vegetables. Luckily, recently restaurants in Tokyo have increased the number of restaurants that also offer vegan choices.
I recently started reading a book on ramen that came out of the Berkeley Press, THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF RAMEN: How Political Crisis in Japan Spawned a Global Food Craze (2014) by George Solt. A major academic study on a very modest Japanese dish.
