Ramen to Soba/Udon (Let's enjoy Japan noodles)

Ramen, Soba and Udon are the representative of Japanese noodle cuisine.

Ramen ラーメン

I think the origin of Ramen is from China but now it has an original culture, history and taste in Japan . It’s a popular noodle cuisine in Japan.

Ramen is made by Chinese noodle and soup. The noodle is wheat. The soup is most important for ramen. The chicken bones is used for a basic ramen but poke bones, beef bones, small dried sardines are also used.

Shoyu ramen 醤油ラーメン

Shoyu ramen is a basic ramen that soy sauce 醤油 is used for the soup. I think Tokyo ramen is shoyu ramen. The soup is clear brown color.

Tonkotsu ramen 豚骨ラーメン

Tonkotsu ramen is a creamy ramen that poke bone called tonkotsu 豚骨 is used for the soup. This ramen is come from Fukuoka 福岡, south Island of Japan. The soup is white brown color. The noodle is like a fine thread.

Miso ramen 味噌ラーメン

Miso ramen is a creamy ramen that miso 味噌 is used for the soup. The soup is brown color. The ramen is come from Hokkaido 北海道, the north island of Japan.

Shio ramen 塩ラーメン

Shio ramen is a basic ramen that salt is used for the soup. The soup is clear color. I think this ramen is popular in Hokkaido as well as miso ramen.

Cup Noodle カップヌードル

Cup Noodle is the first cup-in noodle in the world that Nisshin company sold in 1971.

Soba 蕎麦

Soba is a noodle cuisine that buckwheat called soba-ko 蕎麦粉 is used for the noodle.

Udon　うどん

Udon is another noodle cuisine that wheat is used.

Kitsune vs Tanuki

Once upon a time In Japan we believed that fox (Kitsune) and raccoon dog (Tanuki) are animals to take the shape. we believed a fox take the shape of a woman and tricks us.

Now nobody believes that rumor but they are still popular animals here and  Soba and Udon has the name.

In Tokyo Tanuki soba/udon is the one with Tenkasu and Kitsune soba/udon is the one with Aburaage. But this rule is totally different in Osaka.

In Osaka Aburaage Udon is Kitsune (udon) and Aburaage Soba is Tanuki (soba). Therefore in Osaka they dont have Kitsune soba and Tanuki udon. That makes us confuse !

I made the table (because nobody do this). Check it.

	CITY	SOBA	UDON
KITSUNE	Tokyo	Aburaage	Aburaage
KITSUNE	Osaka	-	Aburaage
TANUKI	Tokyo	Tenkasu	Tenkasu
TANUKI	Osaka	Aburaage	-

 Udon or Soba?

“Which food do you like, udon or soba? ” is a very good question. Please ask your Japanese friend. They will smile and discuss about it. Every one has an answer and opinion. In my opinion people in east Japan like soba than the one of west Japan.

If you love ramen and don’t like soba and udon, it’s okay. But you are still in level 1. If you can discuss for this question, you might be a noodle master 麺達人!