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How many of you are fans of Japanese food, tiktakers? You might remember that a while
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ago we talked about sushi, but lately we discovered another Japanese dish that is becoming pretty
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popular. If we tell you this is Naruto's favorite dish, would you know what it is? That's right,
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it's ramen!
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But the truth is that this dish didn't originate in Japan, but in China. In fact, at first
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it was called Shina-soba or Chuka-soba, which literally means "Chinese noodles soup". The
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term "ramen" originated in the mid '50s, and it probably came from the Japanese pronunciation
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of the Chinese characters "la", stretch, and "mian", noodles, referring to the artisan
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way to make them.
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Ramen started to be served in restaurants in Guangzhou and Shanghai at the beginning
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of the century, as a cheap and easy to prepare dish: A noodle soup made with few ingredients
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in a broth based on salt and pig bones. It was precisely how cheap it was that made it
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popular among workers who would order them from street vendors, who would use a musical
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horn called a shawm to attract the workers' attention.
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After World War II ramen made its jump to Japan: At Hokkaido's capital, the famous island
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north of the country, the "Sapporo ramen" became quite popular – so much so that in
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1958 the food company Nissin Foods launched its "chicken ramen" to the market: The first
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ever instant noodle soup.
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In the '80s and '90s it went from being a simple garnish to a main dish that was quick
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to make and easy to eat – they even made entire TV shows dedicated to it! It was just
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a matter of time before ramen was exported to the rest of the world.
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But how do you prepare ramen, exactly? Well, it has three main ingredients: The first ones
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are the "men", or noodles, which are made by hand with wheat flour, salt, and kansui,
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which is a mix of water with potassium carbonate, sodium carbonate, and phosphoric acid.
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The broth is what differentiates the different kinds of ramen:
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The most traditional kind in Japan is the Shōyu ramen, which is made with chicken,
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soy sauce and rayu, a kind of red pepper extract.
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Then there's the Tonkotsu ramen, which is thicker since it incorporates pig meat.
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There's also ramen made with miso, a paste made of soybeans.
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And we also have the Shio ramen, the simplest and lightest of them, with the most Chinese
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influence.
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The last ingredient is the "gu" or garnish added to the ramen. Here we have a world of
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options to choose from! The most popular garnishes are:
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Boiled eggs
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Bamboo or menma sprouts
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Nori or wakame seaweeds
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Chashū, which are slices of roasted pig
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Kimchi made with Chinese sprouts
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And the famous and colorful fish paste called naruto. Do you understand the reference now?
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Hmm… isn't your mouth watering now, tiktakers? Because now we're gonna run to our favorite
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Japanese restaurant and order a good bowl of ramen! And what about you? Have you tried
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ramen before? And if so, which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!