When someone tells me they don't like Japanese food, I ask if they don't like those noodles, instant noodles, you know those? the noodles? And most of the time what I hear in response is: “Hmmm, noodles... I love noodles!”
For those who don't know, ramen – or, as it is better known here, ramen noodles –, the favorite meal of 95% of students around the world, is a typical Japanese dish.
Of course, I couldn't help but say: it was inspired by a Chinese dish, but it was developed and popularized in Japan.
And look how curious: according to research, the Japanese chose ramen as their greatest invention. Overcoming things like this – amazingly: the microchip, the VCR and the poor tamagotchi.
Original ramen, not instant ramen, is made from noodles in chicken or pork broth – it takes hours and hours to prepare it correctly. Some of these ingredients are mixed into the broth: greens, vegetables, boiled egg, seaweed, bamboo shoots and pieces of pork. Finally, it is seasoned with salt, soy sauce or miso.
(There is a restaurant located on Rua da Glória, here in Liberdade, near the central square, that makes delicious ramen. The place is easy to find because it is right next to a lottery store. But don't be fooled by its secondary position. he occupies the ground, because his seasoning is divine!)
In other words: noodles are another typical Japanese food, but based on something very different from what we are used to – its instant version would be an oversimplification.
Reflecting on the subject, I discovered that there are several reasons for this lack of knowledge. And the most curious of them is the idea that pasta is an Italian creation, and not Chinese, as it actually is.
Following this line, an acquaintance of mine – of Italian descent, of course – went so far as to make his noodles packets by straining the water from the pasta and, look, sprinkling it with the powder from the bag as if it were grated cheese.
A second reason that led to this confusion is the types of noodles we have available in the square, such as: pizza flavor, four cheese flavor and, look, the bolognese sauce flavor.
To convince my friend to prepare his noodles correctly, I told him that the types I just mentioned are as strange to Japanese culture as they are to Brazilian culture, for example, feijoada with raw fish or pirão with seaweed.
But, certainly, the main reason that confuses him so much is the fact that the roots of Japanese culture are rooted half a world away from Brazil; which makes it difficult, or almost impossible, for us to identify all the details of what is and is not part of its tradition.
In fact, this distance is so great – so great – that it leaves even the Nikkei who live here confused. Look at the shame I had in a Japanese restaurant:
That day, there were some friends and I – all Nikkei – waiting for our dishes, when the waiter brought us bowls of miso soup – tofu with chives.
Well, following my house custom, I added a handful of white rice to my miso soup bowl. I did this just to, according to my mother, give the dish more substance.
But as I mixed the rice into the broth, I noticed that some of my friends, some customers, and some waiters were looking in my direction curiously.
Uncomfortable with my discomfort, my colleague politely said to me: “Mmm... eeee... you know... eeee... Mmm... Dude, in Japan, they never add rice, like that... .yeah... you know? No miso soup .”
I felt like I was putting rice in a cup of tea.
© 2018 Hudson Okada
