Ramen

COMFORT FOOD
What is comfort food? It is so many things to so many people. Many of which will draw back from a time in their childhood. What they were religously eating. For me, McDonald's nuggets and a burger washed down with a coke was ceremonial for me. I had to have it each week. It wasn't complicated food by any means. After McDonald's I started branching out toward faux culture food (Taco Bell) and Chinese take out. Whenever I was sick or didn't feel the need to go out, the solution of what to eat was given to me in a bag of Instant Ramen. Now a punchline. Then a go to. The beef flavor was my favorite.

Thousands of miles away from me in Japan, a thing such as Instant Ramen was a mere microcosm of the possibilties of what you can do with flavorful noodles. In the same way the French are known for their bread, the Japanese have mastered the art of Umami, or the characteristics of a savory broth one gets in a bowl of Ramen. It's all about the special concoction of ingredients added to the broth.

The word Ramen came from Lo Mein, a Chinese dish. As it was taken into the Japanese tradition, it was refined. There are now 80,000 Ramen shops in Japan. And no seasonal specials. The dish you order in January will be the same dish you order in August. A guaranteed thing.

But that's Japan. This is Chicago.

IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES
My first experience with a bowl of Ramen was in 2017. The restaurant was Kizuki Ramen and Izakaya and is located in the Wicker Park district of Chicago. A cultural hub where you'll find restaurants serving Indian, Mediterranean, Sndtracke and Japanese dishes. Beyond just brewing up food, it's cultivated a community of working artists since the 80s. Street corners bustle with the local panhandler and the local Human Rights activist. The deep blue part of a city that has voted Democrat since 1927.

The philosophy of Kizuki Izakaya is to serve the most authentic, traditional, and delicious Japanese Ramen without having to fly to Japan. The Furious Spoon, a Ramen shop across the street from Kizuki Izakaya, combines the joys of eating great food while blasting hip hop. A great atmosphere to eat in. Another, Ramen Wasabi is situated two blocks away. What those places don't have is the big sign in white lettering VOTED BEST RAMEN IN CHICAGO 2016. Out of the three Ramen shops to choose from, it was obvious what one I'd choose.

Every Ramen shop has (or least should have) an individuality to it that is more important than what music plays in the background, or what atmosphere it's trying to achieve. It's the broth. In Japan, there are two types of Ramen shops: readymade and artisan. Readymade being a place that has all of its ingredients and mixes premade. Artisan shops make their own noodles and push for their own flavored broth. Only the owner knows the secret of how it is made. It's that secret ingredient that your family passes down generation to generation. Grandma's secret spaghetti sauce.

I don't think I would have been aware of Ramen or at least the art of it had I not watched Juzo Itami's Tampopo first. It's a love letter to food and the sensory experience that it brings. I can go on and on about how well it captures the spirit of the amateur and the craftsman. But Tony Zhou does a much better job in his video essay.



Tampopo kicks off by mocking the fetishized method of consuming food. A few scenes later a woman teaches a group how to properly eat spaghetti. Only to be interrupted by a man slurping down his noodles. Nails on a chalkboard? Far from it. Slurping noodles is actually preferred if you want to fully experience the flavor of the noodles. There is no right way to eat Ramen. There is no right way to eat pizza either. But you wouldn't be caught eating it with a fork or knife, now would you?

There are no special epiphanies in the movie. Tampopo circumvents the trope of the artist having to choose between staying true or selling out. Instead, her slow but steady accumulation and mastery of the craft drives her forward. The vignettes strewn throughout the film showcase various types of people and their love, inquistiveness and sensual need for food. All while surrounding the main storyline of Tampopo in the same way the ingredients add flavor to a bowl of Ramen.

5 to 8 minutes is the time it should take you to down a bowl. It's not a conversational food. Order. Receive. Down it. This immediacy coupled with the layers of flavor make this my go to dish.