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Slightly off-topic: I had ramen a few times in Japan, and while truly delicious, it's massively expensive and rather exotic. Why is ramen a synonym for "cheap"
by Radim 14y ago
Slightly off-topic: I had ramen a few times in Japan, and while truly delicious, it's massively expensive and rather exotic. Why is ramen a synonym for "cheap" in the US (apparently)? Or does it mean just "instant noodles" over there?
- lpolovets 14y agoThere are ramen restaurants in cities with larger Asian populations like NYC and Los Angeles. To most Americans, however, ramen refers to the $0.50/meal packs of instant noodles.
- sageikosa 14y agoThe US of A has a greater capacity to produce grains needed to produce the noodles, and can deliver them to market without having to put them on a boat. Japan has less arable land, so less grain producing land, and (probably) has to import more (which requires boats).
- ArbitraryLimits 14y ago> The US of A has a greater capacity to produce grains needed to produce the noodles And more importantly, a greater capacity to subsdize production of said grains. Edit: Did this comment really get greyed out? The mechanism for that is still kind of mysterious to me. Let me clarify, I don't mean the US has more money, just a dumber system of farm subsidies.
- stonemetal 14y agoAmerican Ramen 22 cents a meal: http://www.amazon.com/Maruchan-Ramen-Chili-3-Ounce-Packages/dp/B003OB2DSE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1342624564&sr=8-4&keywords=ramen http://www.amazon.com/Maruchan-Ramen-Chili-3-Ounce-Packages/...
- jw_ 14y agoRamen in the US refers to instant dried noodles that come with a packet of bouillon, not with the labour-intensive-but-awesome real article.