Ramen inwazja:

Recently there are a lot of discussions about "Ramen" in Poland.

This post is a summary of my thoughts after I attended a festival in Warsaw: Japanese cinema festival - Nieznane oblicza Japonii and after visiting few ramen restaurants in Warsaw.

The films showed in the event was about Japanese food culture, sushi, and ramen. My friend who is the author of blog - "Japończyk gotuje" was participating the event so I had a reason to pass by and try his ramen.


Before the film started, there was a workshop of ramen and then people can buy it and try.


To be honest, it was tasty and the flavour was very intense for me.


Anyways, let‘s start from the word ramen - the historical term of a dish, which was created in China and modified in Japan.

In Chinese it's written as 拉面(simplified) and in Japanese its written as 拉麵(ラーメン). In English, according to the pronunciation, in Chinese is lamian and in Japanese is ramen...

Wait...it's not a language class, but why are we talking about this? Don't forget that language is like food, it evolves and influneces cultures.

The original meaning of lamian is "pulled noodles" in Chinese because "la" is to pull and "mian" is noodles, and that's how it is actually made. 

Just like in this video ( from youtube):



Preparing handmade lamian requires a lot of skills and a experienced chef. Instead of that, in Japan it has developed into noodles that are made not by hands, but by machines, moreover, the soup is totally different than the traditional lamian, more complicated and flavoured - Ramen, Chinese people also call it Japanese lamian.

Ramen this word for me is an unique representative of Japanese food culture, but somehow some people in Poland (or in many countries) are misusing it. Ramen has its own special characters and elements that can't be replaced or changed. Imagine yourself, polish people, if I would make "bigos" with dashi and soy sauce, won't it be strange? (well maybe I can make a Japanese-bigos too - bigos po japońsku)

The complexity of making ramen makes it a non-home dish, maybe that's why in Japan some factories and companies started to produce instant ramen which is based on chemical calculations of the ramen components. Surprisingly and sadly, most of the people don't distinguish the differences of the taste. Nevertheless, there are so many ramen restaurants in Japan, that people who are eager to taste the real ramen can always find the possibilities to explore different ramen.

Personally I have never been to Japan yet, so the real Japanese taste ramen is a bit mysterious for me. However, Taiwan was Japanese colony for 50 years so the ramen culture in Taiwan is also very prosperous. Even though that many Taiwanese people say that ramen in Japan is much more salty and intense, but the main taste is still there. I was a ramen fan also but I never expected I would write an article about ramen! Here are few pictures of ramen I ate before:






This one strickly is not Japanese ramen but seafood lamian, also tasty.


This is a noodle restaurant I used to visit when I was a student in Taichung and it's called - Su po mian.


Noodle culture in Asia is like spaghetti culture in Italy, the diversity and popularity make it accessible everywhere - from small villages to each corner of big cities; from food stands to fancy restaurants. 


I believe ramen culture in Japan is developed in a very competitive and experimental way, because once I bought a ramen book and then I gave up making it myself after reading through the recipes...

Taken from a Chinese conception of making noodles but blended with the Japanese soul and attitude, moreover, mixed into the spirit and passion of the one who makes it, not only a Japanese dish but rather an art - Ramen.

At last, ramen in Poland is still a new thing, there will be a long way to go but hopefully one day there will be everywhere delicious ramen. Let's see what's gonna happen!

*More information on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramen

*Check out - Japończyk gotuje, Pyza made in Poland...and ofc, Azja Inwazja! (we are all on FB!)