Deep Questions: What puts the Oriental in Oriental-flavored Ramen?

Joy Tang
July 24, 2009

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Instantnoodles.jpgI haven't eaten Top Ramen in years. I was raised on it. But sometime during high school I ramened out and never returned. Only today did these microwavable pleasures hurtle back into my sphere of awareness. It
went like this. I heard my roommate say to her friend, "Hey, so beef-flavored or Oriental-flavored ramen?"

"Whoa," I turned, "Oriental ramen?"

She looked at me funny, "Um, yeah...?"

Yeah, I'd forgotten. Apparently, there is a beef flavor, a shrimp flavor, some other flavors, and ta-da! Oriental flavor. Because we Orientals have a particular flavor? Because a clearly demarcated Orient even exists to be tasted? I don't know though. I think my favorite part is still that "Oriental flavor" exists in a spectrum with "Beef flavor" and "Shrimp flavor." It's as if Nissin Top Ramen is saying: As beef
and shrimp have these essential characteristics, so too do Orientals.

Mmm, delicious Asian peoples...

The back of a packet of Nissin Top Ramen reads, "Nissin Top Ramen is America's Original Ramen Noodle Soup and a family favorite since 1970." This is interesting. First, because fresh ramen noodle providers would never claim to have an Oriental-flavored broth. But a company actively making such a claim is "America's Original Ramen Noodle Soup." Then because it was around 1968 that the Yellow Power movement first coined the term Asian American and rejected the term Oriental. And yet, while Nissin has been around since exactly that time, this flavor of ramen remains... delicious?

I guess taste can redefine a word. We should make a T-shirt. On the front: Oriental-flavored! On the back: Salt Soy Sauce Powder (Wheat Soybeans Maltodextrin Salt) Monosodium Glutamate Spices Hydrolyzed Soy
Corn and Wheat Protein Garlic Powder Caramel Color Onion Powder Rice Oil Citric Acid Disodium Succinate Dehydrated Leek Calcium Silicate (Anticaking Agent) Disodium Guanylate Disodium Inosinate.

Categories: 
Food & Agriculture
Contributor: 

Suggested Reads

A Sweet Gig
Rice is Nice: Marion Nestle on the Science of Calories
A Tale of a Tiffin

Comments

Comments

Bubba wrote on Mon, 10/12/2009 - 12:10am
Its my understanding that people are Asian and things are Oriental. Asian people, Oriental Noodles. Asian woman, Oriental vase. Asian girl, Oriental nuclear warhead.
Alan wrote on Fri, 07/24/2009 - 12:24pm
You make that T-shirt, and I'll buy it! Great post. Had a good laugh.
Token wrote on Sat, 07/25/2009 - 10:22am
You have to admit, soy sauce and garlic pretty much make up half of the flavors of the Orient (The Asian cuisine I make usually has one or the other, if not both). And since the Asian people no longer want the term "Oriental," we might as well use it to describe flavors . . . and rugs. Otherwise, it would be a waste of a word.
Whiplash wrote on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 2:25pm
UH...Oriental -flavored...kinda like this blog...add me to the list for a t-shirt.
James wrote on Tue, 07/28/2009 - 5:04am
Maaaake that shirt. I'd totally wear it.
Hanley wrote on Sat, 08/01/2009 - 11:40pm
Maybe it's supposed to taste like a rug - uncooked, it does look like one
Joy wrote on Thu, 08/13/2009 - 9:56pm
It does look like a rug, doesn't it? Does anyone know of a t-shirt company that would print us a shirt like this? I think we should do it.
acai wrote on Wed, 10/07/2009 - 11:30pm
Everyone is waiting for the T-shirt. I want to wear it everyday. I just wanted to say good job. I really enjoy reading your posts.
Joy Tang wrote on Thu, 10/08/2009 - 9:24pm
Thank you so much! What other posts of mine have you read? I do really need to make this shirt. But I've never made one before, and I would want it to be graphically attractive and fit well so people would feel comfortable wearing it... Maybe I should submit a design to threadless.com? What do you think?