We all love it, right? Ultimate comfort food, late-night snack, hangover cure, etc. It's become one of Japan's most popular exports.
Some know that men (麺) means noodle. But what does Ra mean?
THREAD
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It was originally a Chinese food called chuka-soba or shina-soba (lots of history, not gonna go there right now)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DedNPVpV4AEbhtf.jpg)
In this old photo (taken around 1930) you can see all their delivery boys and it shows how popular the joint was.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DedNq6xU8AAZSvO.jpg)
This is a photo of the chef, Ou Bunzai (王文彩)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DedOQz4UQAANASx.jpg)
Some locals would order the dish calling it chang-soba or shina-soba, which were derogatory.
But she had trouble coming up with a catchy name that all her patrons would find easy to pronounce.
She decided to start calling it Ra-men, and the name quickly took off.
In 1958, Ando Momofuku released the first "Instant Ramen" and it immediately became a hit. The name ramen was used in commercials across Japan and solidified the naming of the dish.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DedPjVcV0AEF0Jm.jpg)
Further documentation:
www2.hiecc.or.jp/hokkaido-china…
city.sapporo.jp/kitaku/syoukai…