1 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:11,639 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to food Stuff. I'm Annie Rees and 2 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:16,280 Speaker 1: I'm Lauren vocal Bomb, and today we're talking about ramen. Yes, 3 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:19,320 Speaker 1: ramen noodles and they're way more than those forty nine 4 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 1: cent dry noodle packs are kind of soup things that 5 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 1: you can get at grocery stores. Of a lot of us, 6 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:27,960 Speaker 1: we included, uh used to survive college and my post 7 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:32,159 Speaker 1: college era certainly. Yeah. Um, raman of the non droid 8 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 1: and package variety is currently kind of a food trend 9 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:37,720 Speaker 1: in the US and and in other places around the globe, 10 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: and it's becoming more and more commonplace. And it's also 11 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: food you probably associate with Japan, probably for good reason. Um. 12 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:47,519 Speaker 1: But buckle up, friends, this is another one of those 13 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:50,720 Speaker 1: episodes in which we talk about really depressing stuff in 14 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: the middle of something that you love. So yeah, yeah, 15 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: it's gonna be okay, We're gonna get through this together. 16 00:00:56,520 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: It will be. Let's begin, Yes, So, first, big shout 17 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:02,240 Speaker 1: out to George Salts The Untold History of Ramen as 18 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 1: an excellent book and source for this episode. Very helpful. Also, 19 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:07,960 Speaker 1: basically all of it is available for free to read 20 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: on Google Books, so check that out. Yeah, there are 21 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 1: so so so many takes on ramen. Almost every city 22 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:18,959 Speaker 1: in Japan has their own insert city name style, and 23 00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:21,400 Speaker 1: then all the versions outside of Japan is just a lot. 24 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 1: So keep that in mind as we talk about ramen. 25 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: Japan's Ramen Museum and yes that exists, and yes we 26 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:33,440 Speaker 1: will be talking about it. Further recognizes officially nineteen regional varieties. Okay, 27 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 1: but at its most basic, what is it? It's noodles 28 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:43,119 Speaker 1: stock tear, which is the sauce that is used for flavor. Well, 29 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:45,679 Speaker 1: there's no accent over that, and that is my bad. 30 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:51,160 Speaker 1: And the toppings if anny. Ramen noodles are a specific 31 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:55,000 Speaker 1: type of noodle that's generally been alkalized. Changing the peach 32 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: levels in a wheat flower dough affect its properties, including 33 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: the texture and color because it affects some of the dose, 34 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:05,800 Speaker 1: chemical compounds and gluten interactions. And the noodles are made 35 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 1: with a combination of flour, salt, and water that has 36 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:13,080 Speaker 1: often been infused with con sway Kent City. See I 37 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 1: even write out the pronunciations and it's like my brain goes, no, no, 38 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:21,919 Speaker 1: this way. I'm not I'm not a total expert. I 39 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:24,360 Speaker 1: took a little bit of Japanese linguistics in college. But um, 40 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: so I might be screwing it up to There's also 41 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 1: regional accents. Cool well. Feel free to correct me at 42 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:32,880 Speaker 1: any time, Lauren, Okay, no, you're trying. I usually just 43 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: toss French words to you. So I, this is totally fair, 44 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 1: absolutely okay. Kind sue anyway is an alkaline mineral water. 45 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:45,799 Speaker 1: It's solution with potassium carbonate and sodium carbonate or bicarbonate. 46 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: It's a brownish liquid that's hard to find outside of 47 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:51,920 Speaker 1: Asia sometimes but can be substituted for with regular old 48 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:56,600 Speaker 1: sodium bicarbonate a k A baking soda. That alkalinity gives 49 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: the noodles the hint of yellow, and there's slipperiness and cheeriness, 50 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:03,080 Speaker 1: and as you go further south or west. In Japan, 51 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 1: the less consuit is used in ramen, which impacts the color. 52 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:09,519 Speaker 1: In the north, where the baking sida makes up about 53 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:11,840 Speaker 1: of the water, the ramen will have more color to 54 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 1: it than the south. The alkalinity also affects the rate 55 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:19,280 Speaker 1: of broth absorption of the noodles. Um and other noodles 56 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 1: that may be served at Raman shops can include udon, 57 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: which are a thicker softer white wheat noodles, and soba, 58 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:28,440 Speaker 1: which are usually thinner um kind of nutty buck wheat noodles. 59 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: Sometimes ramen noodles are served without broth. Also, but if 60 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: you are going to broth, If you're going to broth 61 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:40,800 Speaker 1: you chefs you or chefs uh. Summer seafood primarily clams 62 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 1: or dried fish meat usually chicken or pork, or vegetables 63 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,880 Speaker 1: typically garlic onionscallions are ginger or a combination of those things. 64 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 1: For quite a long time, quite quite a long time. 65 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:53,400 Speaker 1: All kinds of stuff I didn't mention can be using 66 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 1: the broth though, like apples or potatoes, and the broth 67 00:03:56,520 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: can be a clear consume style thing, or like cloudy 68 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: jellaty and rich stock that you get from cooking down bones. 69 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: And the seasoning sauce atari is most often a choice 70 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:11,520 Speaker 1: of soy sauce show you fermented soybean paste, mitso are 71 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 1: salt shio, but that also can vary in a small 72 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: amount of ramans. Don't use any torre. Are you seeing 73 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:22,560 Speaker 1: a pattern here? Very customizable As far as toppings go, 74 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 1: You're most likely to run across Chinese style roasted pork 75 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 1: called chas shoe and slice green onions. But you can 76 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 1: find us about anything on there if you peruse enough menus. Yeah. 77 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:36,400 Speaker 1: Other most common items include mushrooms, soft boiled egg slices 78 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: of spongy fish cake, seaweed slices, butter, bunito flakes which 79 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 1: are fish flakes, garlic, chips, and corn. And you can 80 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:49,640 Speaker 1: find raminin over eighty thousand restaurants, and thirty five thousand 81 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: of those are Roman specialty shops in Japan, just in Japan, 82 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:56,719 Speaker 1: Just in Japan. Eight of these are small businesses in 83 00:04:56,760 --> 00:04:59,440 Speaker 1: a similar way to vegemite. Raminans sort of tied to 84 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:03,360 Speaker 1: Japan in Japanese culture and sometimes described as a symbol 85 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:07,160 Speaker 1: of Japanese soft power. In a survey of two thousand 86 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:10,760 Speaker 1: Tokyo area residents, the Fuji Research Institute found that the 87 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:14,719 Speaker 1: Japanese consider instant noodles to be Japan's greatest invention of 88 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 1: the twentieth century. Oh and that instant stuff eighty seven 89 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,400 Speaker 1: point five billion packets a year sold in two thousand 90 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:27,279 Speaker 1: five about three billion dollars. By twelve, that was over 91 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:31,160 Speaker 1: a hundred billion servings per year, enough for fourteen packets 92 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:33,640 Speaker 1: for every single person on the face of this planet. 93 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,919 Speaker 1: That is a lot of instant moment, it is. But 94 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:40,840 Speaker 1: how did we get here? How did we create this 95 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: ramen craze, I mean, not us personally like humanity. Unfortunately. Yes, 96 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 1: we're gonna tell you, but first we're going to take 97 00:05:48,880 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 1: a quick break for a word from our sponsor, and 98 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:05,440 Speaker 1: we're back, Thank you sponsor. So there are three competing 99 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: stories about the origin of ramen, but one thing they 100 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:11,599 Speaker 1: all have in common. Raman is from China, not Japan. 101 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, okay. So Japan has borrowed lots of culture 102 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 1: from China over the centuries. Their their system of writing, calendar, 103 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,400 Speaker 1: and Buddhist practices, for example, all originated in China. And 104 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:24,279 Speaker 1: those other two types of noodles frequently found in Japanese cuisine, 105 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:27,279 Speaker 1: soba and udan, also came from China. But those things 106 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:30,400 Speaker 1: all date back at least a millennium or so. Raman 107 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:33,040 Speaker 1: is more recent though, And speaking of language, you can 108 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:35,280 Speaker 1: tell partially based on the way that the word is written. 109 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:39,160 Speaker 1: In Japanese. The modern Japanese language has two alphabets, one 110 00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 1: for native words called uraga and one for foreign words 111 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:47,280 Speaker 1: called katakana. Provides the phonetic spellings for kanji, which are 112 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:51,600 Speaker 1: those conceptual characters. But yeah, okay, so Raman is still 113 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:56,200 Speaker 1: not written with native hourigana or kanji, but in that 114 00:06:56,360 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: foreign Loan word alphabet, so it hasn't been kicking around 115 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,960 Speaker 1: all that long. One story claims that scholar Shoes shun 116 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:07,720 Speaker 1: Sway fled Mante rule and China, bringing with him the 117 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: recipe for Chinese stitle noodle soups. Sometime in the sixteen hundreds. 118 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:16,840 Speaker 1: A companion to the feudal lord Tokugawa mitsu Kuni Shoe 119 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:21,080 Speaker 1: supposedly gave out lots of useful advice, including how to 120 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:23,960 Speaker 1: improve the local udon noodle soup and dashy roth with 121 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 1: stuff like carli, green onions and ginger. Some food historians 122 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: credit this is the beginning of Roman and Japan. Mm hmm, 123 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 1: but there's not a lot of written evidence of this. Yeah, well, 124 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 1: and it's and it didn't really develop further from there, 125 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:44,720 Speaker 1: kind of like stopped. Yeah, that was sort of it. Yeah. 126 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:47,120 Speaker 1: The second tale of Roman's arrival to Japan involves the 127 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:50,040 Speaker 1: country becoming more open to foreigners in the nineteenth century. 128 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: This was due to Japan's kind of Western driven Imperial 129 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:56,520 Speaker 1: restoration in the mid eighteen hundreds that they had been 130 00:07:56,560 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 1: basically closed to Eastern immigrants and certainly the Western mimigrants 131 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:02,960 Speaker 1: at even merchants for about two hundred and fifty years, 132 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:05,960 Speaker 1: and at first Chinese people migrated to Japan looking for 133 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:09,840 Speaker 1: work opportunities, especially in helping the Japanese interact with with 134 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 1: the new influx of westerners, and the Chinese coming to 135 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:16,120 Speaker 1: Japan brought with them a chicken broth and handmade noodle 136 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:19,800 Speaker 1: combo called lamien. The Japanese referred to this noodle soup 137 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:24,760 Speaker 1: as non consoba none noodles, named for China's capital. Interestingly, 138 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:27,680 Speaker 1: non consoba wasn't viewed as a whole meal, but rather 139 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 1: a closing act you had after your main meal was consumed. 140 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:35,400 Speaker 1: An ad for non consoba appeared in a print ad 141 00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:38,839 Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty four, and it was more simple than 142 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:41,840 Speaker 1: what ramen would become. It didn't contain that the toppings 143 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:44,320 Speaker 1: are the sauces. To get those, we have to turn 144 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:47,800 Speaker 1: to the third and most likely a series of events 145 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:50,160 Speaker 1: that brought Rama to Japan, which is a bit more 146 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:52,559 Speaker 1: specific take on the second version we just talked about 147 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: in the eighteen eighties, Chinese migrants started settling in Yokohama 148 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:00,720 Speaker 1: and opening restaurants with dishes from home include noodle soup 149 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:05,439 Speaker 1: dishes targeted primarily to foreigners. Yokohama is a port city. 150 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:08,520 Speaker 1: A couple of decades past, bringing us to nineteen ten, 151 00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:13,480 Speaker 1: when Tokyo's first Japanese owned and run Chinese restaurant, Rara Ken, 152 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:16,200 Speaker 1: whipped up a dish of noodles submerged in a soy 153 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:20,320 Speaker 1: sauce season broth that they called shina soba. The restaurant 154 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:23,880 Speaker 1: employed Chinese chefs and was popular for putting Japanese twists 155 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:29,320 Speaker 1: on Chinese staples, and Shinna was the then imperialist Japanese 156 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: phonetic word for China, and soba of course refers to noodles. However, 157 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:36,840 Speaker 1: the noodles being used in shinnasba were made with wheat flour, 158 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:41,319 Speaker 1: not butt wheat, so basically the translation is Chinese noodles. 159 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:43,920 Speaker 1: Over the next couple of years, this early precursor to 160 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:47,240 Speaker 1: Raman spread and became localized. At first, mostly available at 161 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:51,920 Speaker 1: food carts and strangely Western style restaurants, It was a 162 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:54,720 Speaker 1: popular item for blue collar workers who didn't have much 163 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 1: in the way of extra time or cash. Urbanization and 164 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,520 Speaker 1: industrialization meant more people were king in cities, which only 165 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:04,880 Speaker 1: helped with Roman's popularity, and even by the nineteen tens, 166 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 1: a mechanical noodle making device existed. At the time, Japan 167 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:13,600 Speaker 1: was in its aggressive colonialism stage of its imperial renewal. 168 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:17,480 Speaker 1: It was waging war with its neighbors, eventually taking over Korea, Taiwan, 169 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:21,520 Speaker 1: and parts of the South Pacific and China. This added 170 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:24,559 Speaker 1: financial strain to the urbanization that was already going on, 171 00:10:24,679 --> 00:10:29,240 Speaker 1: and thus a need for inexpensive and filling food m hmm. 172 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 1: And plus there was a sense of power that came 173 00:10:33,679 --> 00:10:38,600 Speaker 1: with enjoying this foreign dish. In her book Modern Japanese Cuisine, Food, 174 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:44,520 Speaker 1: Power and National Identity, Katzrina Joanna Swertka sorry if I 175 00:10:44,559 --> 00:10:48,640 Speaker 1: butcher Jr. Name wrote, by physically interacting with China through 176 00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:52,120 Speaker 1: the ingestion of Chinese food and drink, the Japanese masses 177 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:57,920 Speaker 1: were brought closer to the idea of empire who imperialism 178 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:03,280 Speaker 1: and cannibalism a little bit. In that little bit, yeah uh. 179 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:08,160 Speaker 1: The wars also drove rice shortages, and thus wheat based 180 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:11,920 Speaker 1: products like ramen became more popular, and as it did 181 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:16,040 Speaker 1: with so much. World War two, and specifically Japan's defeat 182 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:20,960 Speaker 1: in that war, changed everything. Firstly, during the war, rationing 183 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:23,640 Speaker 1: meant that not too many people were making or eating 184 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:27,760 Speaker 1: shinnan noodles. After the war's end, the Chinese government and 185 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:31,160 Speaker 1: press protested the use of the word shinna due to 186 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:34,679 Speaker 1: its imperialist connotation, and since it was tied up with 187 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:37,920 Speaker 1: the Japanese aggression and the atrocities that resulted in the 188 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:41,720 Speaker 1: death of twenty million Chinese, it was viewed as racist 189 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: and the use of it was mostly discontinued. Chuckasba became 190 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:51,840 Speaker 1: the new name for Chinese noodles. Food shortages and widespread 191 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:55,520 Speaker 1: hunger plagued Japan the worst of it from nineteen to 192 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 1: nineteen forty seven. Restaurants and food carts weren't permitted to 193 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:02,480 Speaker 1: earn a profit until nineteen nine, and during the US 194 00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:07,520 Speaker 1: occupation of Japan from nine to nineteen fifty two, Japan 195 00:12:07,559 --> 00:12:11,840 Speaker 1: relied heavily on US imports for food, the primary of 196 00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:14,920 Speaker 1: those being lard and wheat. Uh. This was this was 197 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:18,280 Speaker 1: kind of on purpose by the US government. Yeah, a 198 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:21,160 Speaker 1: little bit more on that in a second um. Consequently, 199 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:24,319 Speaker 1: stuff made with wheat as an ingredient grew in popularity, 200 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:30,280 Speaker 1: including chickasaba, slash raman oka raman, and this in turn 201 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:34,840 Speaker 1: really shaped the Japanese diet. Lard and wheat became building blocks, 202 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 1: and a lot of things we associate with Japanese cuisine, 203 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:42,160 Speaker 1: like okonomiaki and gyoza that were labeled stanum of food, 204 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:49,040 Speaker 1: stanum of food, she says, stamina food. I didn't even notice. 205 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:50,480 Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, I know that's the word. That's 206 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:55,080 Speaker 1: absolutely sure. Yeah, sounds good food that this So this 207 00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:57,280 Speaker 1: meant food that was filling and kept the hunger away 208 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:00,320 Speaker 1: for longer, and that term is still in used day. 209 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:05,040 Speaker 1: And we should mention, oh, back to the extra depressing 210 00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:08,120 Speaker 1: now yet. Yeah, but during this time, the US kept 211 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:11,280 Speaker 1: food rationing and a ban on outside food vendors in place, 212 00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:14,720 Speaker 1: which meant that much of this shuka soba was made 213 00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:19,040 Speaker 1: with black black market wheat. I forgot about this fact 214 00:13:19,559 --> 00:13:23,200 Speaker 1: and at black market food stands translation, it was illegal. 215 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:27,880 Speaker 1: People went to jail for it. Oh no, m And 216 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:31,000 Speaker 1: another thing we should mention is that the US was 217 00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:33,760 Speaker 1: kind of sort of using the import of wheat and 218 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:39,120 Speaker 1: other foods to contain communism. Uh huh, Yeah, the US 219 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:42,480 Speaker 1: hope to prevent any uprisings from breaking out in response 220 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: to frustrations about the city's poor management when it came 221 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:48,440 Speaker 1: to the distribution of food, and this way the U 222 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:51,120 Speaker 1: S would be viewed as a charitable force at a 223 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:55,320 Speaker 1: time of need in the Japanese government, as functioning when 224 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:59,880 Speaker 1: the Communist Party was claiming very loudly that it wasn't. Yeah, 225 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:02,360 Speaker 1: And depending on which side of the generation gap you 226 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:04,880 Speaker 1: fell on, ramen was either viewed as a food for 227 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:07,760 Speaker 1: poor people to be embarrassed by you didn't want to 228 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:10,240 Speaker 1: eat it in public, or a food that served as 229 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:13,160 Speaker 1: a savior during a time of starvation that was mostly 230 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:16,319 Speaker 1: felt by people who came into adulthood after the war. Yea. 231 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:20,240 Speaker 1: Once the U S occupation came to an end and 232 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:23,880 Speaker 1: Japan's economy started turning around, we come to a huge 233 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:27,480 Speaker 1: milestone in the history of ramen. In ninety What was it? 234 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:30,080 Speaker 1: You ask, what what could possibly be? I don't know. 235 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 1: You probably know, but here me. It was packaged instant 236 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:36,560 Speaker 1: ram and brought to you by the founder of Nissan 237 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:41,240 Speaker 1: Foods Corporation, Ando Momofuku. As it was chicken flavored, it 238 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:44,520 Speaker 1: was called chicken ramen. Ramen from the Chinese word law 239 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:48,800 Speaker 1: meaning pull and mien meaning noodle. When it first debuted, 240 00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:51,720 Speaker 1: it was marketed as something for women and children in 241 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:55,520 Speaker 1: the middle class, as nourishing and healthy food for nuclear families, 242 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:58,080 Speaker 1: easily acquired at the grocery store. Although it was a 243 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:01,560 Speaker 1: little expensive at first, certainly pricier than going to a 244 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:04,480 Speaker 1: raman shop. The convenience of being able to make raman 245 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:08,160 Speaker 1: at home, though, made it gain popularity quickly and on. 246 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:11,480 Speaker 1: The story is just about as heartwarming as corporate stories 247 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:15,200 Speaker 1: really get. He was born in Japanese occupied Taiwan and 248 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:18,360 Speaker 1: studied in Japan, later becoming a citizen. He worked as 249 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:20,880 Speaker 1: the chairman of a credit association after World War Two, 250 00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:24,280 Speaker 1: but they went bankrupt in ninety seven. Looking for a 251 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:27,600 Speaker 1: new life purpose and kind of wanting to apologize for 252 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:31,040 Speaker 1: this failure of this credit union, he remembered a moment 253 00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:34,400 Speaker 1: from the day that Japan surrendered where he saw people 254 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:37,800 Speaker 1: lining up at this makeshift raman restaurant among the wreckage 255 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:40,960 Speaker 1: of Osaka, and decided that what people needed was a 256 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:46,400 Speaker 1: food that was tasty, non perishable, inexpensive, safe filling, and 257 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:49,520 Speaker 1: could be ready in less than three minutes, and he 258 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:52,520 Speaker 1: reportedly believed that peace will come to the world when 259 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:56,000 Speaker 1: all its people have enough to eat, and he wanted 260 00:15:56,040 --> 00:16:00,000 Speaker 1: to help achieve that peace. That's lovely. We used to 261 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:03,120 Speaker 1: a show called Stuff of Genius, and almost everybody here 262 00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:05,120 Speaker 1: kind of had a hand in it at one point. 263 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:07,880 Speaker 1: It's like an animated video series and I believe we 264 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:12,400 Speaker 1: did one Yeah, yeah, on raman. It was about inventors 265 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:14,800 Speaker 1: and like how they invented their products. And I'm sure 266 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:16,760 Speaker 1: you can still find it if you're interested. Yeah, it's 267 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:20,680 Speaker 1: on that internet thing, that that thing. Yeah, so anyway, 268 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:24,560 Speaker 1: um Raman once again gained popularity among workers in cities 269 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:27,560 Speaker 1: like Tokyo and Osak in the sixties, and as Japan's 270 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:31,880 Speaker 1: economy improved and more standalone restaurants were built, more and 271 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:35,280 Speaker 1: more restaurants, as opposed to food carts that were previously 272 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:38,920 Speaker 1: making and selling raman, started to sell Roman more restaurants did. 273 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:42,200 Speaker 1: It was becoming less of a food associated with the poor. 274 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:47,240 Speaker 1: In other words, Simultaneously, as European and American foods poured 275 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:50,960 Speaker 1: into Japan, Japanese people clung to ramen as a Japanese 276 00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:54,240 Speaker 1: food that was now perceived with some nostalgia as a 277 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:58,560 Speaker 1: national dish. Yeah, and in many ways, it's fitting that 278 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:02,280 Speaker 1: we did rice before the US, as wheat became a 279 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:05,560 Speaker 1: rice substitute when rice was scarce, and also because of 280 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:10,120 Speaker 1: this interesting claim making the rounds at the time, Yeah, yeah, 281 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:14,720 Speaker 1: the Ministry of Health and Welfare actively promoted Western food 282 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:20,439 Speaker 1: as the healthier food, a proposition backed by some nutritionists 283 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:25,439 Speaker 1: and pointed to as the reason for Western superiority. Yeah. 284 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:28,480 Speaker 1: The character for rice was described as suggesting that people 285 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:31,640 Speaker 1: eat because they exist, and that these people were thus 286 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:35,879 Speaker 1: resigned and passive, and the character for wheat suggested that 287 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:39,359 Speaker 1: people exist because they eat, and thus they are progressive 288 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:43,320 Speaker 1: and active. So, according to this, people who ate rice 289 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:45,960 Speaker 1: lost the will to be active, and people who ate 290 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:48,879 Speaker 1: wheat had initiative and were motivated because you wanted to 291 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:51,600 Speaker 1: improve the wheat by combining it with other things. So 292 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:57,439 Speaker 1: the logic went, yeah, worse, worse. Here's an actual quote 293 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:01,520 Speaker 1: from a nutritionist. Parents who feed their children solely white 294 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:05,040 Speaker 1: rice are dooming them to a life of idiocy. When 295 00:18:05,119 --> 00:18:09,520 Speaker 1: one eats rice, one's brain gets worse. When one compares 296 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:12,560 Speaker 1: Japanese to Westerners, one finds that the former has an 297 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:17,560 Speaker 1: approximately weaker mind than the latter. This is evident from 298 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:20,800 Speaker 1: the fact that few Japanese have received the Nobel Prize. 299 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:25,040 Speaker 1: Japan ought to completely abolish its rice patties and aim 300 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:33,200 Speaker 1: for a full bread diet. What that that is desterrible, 301 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:36,959 Speaker 1: The most racist thing that I've actually heard in a minute. 302 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:41,320 Speaker 1: And I mean that's really bad. I can't believe. And 303 00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:44,680 Speaker 1: it's like the complete opposite of what we think now 304 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:48,040 Speaker 1: in a less racist way, but just that that the 305 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:51,880 Speaker 1: Western diet is so unhealthy. The title of the pamphlet 306 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:54,440 Speaker 1: this came from, by the way, was called eating Rice 307 00:18:54,520 --> 00:19:03,280 Speaker 1: makes You Stupid. Yeah, it's awful. So moving on from 308 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:08,600 Speaker 1: that racist nonsense. Yeah, and though developed cup Ramen packaged 309 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:10,919 Speaker 1: in a styrofoam cup that serves as a bowl in 310 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:14,480 Speaker 1: the late nineteen sixties, as supposedly when he saw American 311 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:18,400 Speaker 1: supermarket executives using a styrofoam coffee cup as a as 312 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:24,400 Speaker 1: a makeshift ramen bowl during product demonstrations in n Cup 313 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:27,560 Speaker 1: ramen became commercially available and it got lots of free 314 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:32,000 Speaker 1: publicity thanks to the nineteen seventy two A Samasanzo incident, 315 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:35,680 Speaker 1: when the wife of an innkeeper and gan and Nagano 316 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:39,440 Speaker 1: was taken to hostage by members of the United Red Army. 317 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:43,280 Speaker 1: A Japanese tactical assault team responded and during the resulting 318 00:19:43,359 --> 00:19:47,600 Speaker 1: televised ten day siege, all parties involved lived off of 319 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:52,600 Speaker 1: cup Ramen. Cup of Noodles arrived in the US in 320 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:55,360 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three. I just did like a weird gesture 321 00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:57,639 Speaker 1: when I said that, I feel like you have to 322 00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:00,359 Speaker 1: kind of do this armed thing when use noodles. Yeah, uh, 323 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:06,400 Speaker 1: like it's cock noodles away. Lauren appreciated it when, Yeah, 324 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:09,359 Speaker 1: when I brought it to attention, Otherwise you wouldn't have noticed. 325 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,280 Speaker 1: Also during this decade, we see some of the first 326 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:18,080 Speaker 1: seeds for craft Ramen with quote salary men are men 327 00:20:18,119 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 1: who successfully escaped their jobs to become self employed, maybe 328 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:27,240 Speaker 1: making Roman. And then comes the fabulous eighties, and they 329 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:30,879 Speaker 1: were indeed fabulous for Ramen. It was trending, it was fashionable. 330 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: It was all over Japan. The number of specially Ramen 331 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:38,679 Speaker 1: shops increased drastically as the price point rose. Blue collar 332 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:41,600 Speaker 1: Roman customers were replaced with younger city folks who were 333 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:46,679 Speaker 1: dubbed the new breede. Yeah. In nine two, the small 334 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:51,399 Speaker 1: city of Kitakata started doing ramen tours. People waited in 335 00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:53,680 Speaker 1: line for hours to get a taste of a special 336 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:56,440 Speaker 1: local ramen, and this practice was well known enough to 337 00:20:56,480 --> 00:20:58,240 Speaker 1: have a name for the people that engaged in it, 338 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:07,040 Speaker 1: Ramen Yo Retsu Yeah Awesome. Ramen's popularity explosion only continued 339 00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:10,960 Speaker 1: into the nineties, with ramen chef's becoming celebrities. Raman video 340 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:13,119 Speaker 1: games in a Roman Museum, which is really more of 341 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:17,640 Speaker 1: a food court, opened in nine Later an instant Roman 342 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:21,119 Speaker 1: museum opened too. In two thousand four, chef David Chang 343 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:24,480 Speaker 1: opened Mamafuku Noodle Bar in New York City, which became 344 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:27,280 Speaker 1: so trendy that it would cement ramen as as a 345 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:31,600 Speaker 1: destination worthy food in the minds of Americans. And then 346 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:35,760 Speaker 1: in two thousand five, Raman went to space. Ah Yeah. 347 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:39,680 Speaker 1: Undo developed it for the Japanese astronauts so Echi Noguchi's 348 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:43,160 Speaker 1: space shuttle trip. It came, of course, in a vacuum 349 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:45,600 Speaker 1: sealed bag, and the noodles were skinnier so that they 350 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:48,119 Speaker 1: could be cooked in hot not boiling water, and and 351 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:50,359 Speaker 1: the broth was more like a sauce kind of so 352 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:53,160 Speaker 1: it would stick to the noodles when Umdo would pass 353 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:56,320 Speaker 1: away in two thousand and seven, Nogucci eulogized him to 354 00:21:56,440 --> 00:22:02,119 Speaker 1: a full stadium of mourners. Wow m uh yeah, and 355 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 1: a nine seat ram Raman restaurant in Tokyo called Sua 356 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:11,640 Speaker 1: became the first ramen joint to earn a Michelin star. 357 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:15,800 Speaker 1: And that brings us to today, when ramen has become 358 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:20,359 Speaker 1: this fashionable hip food that we see as a representation 359 00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:22,560 Speaker 1: of Japan, and you can find it in cities around 360 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:25,880 Speaker 1: the world. New York Times food critic Pete Wells once 361 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:29,159 Speaker 1: wrote that Roman's popularity represents a kind of greater shift 362 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:31,960 Speaker 1: in what's trendy in restaurants today. You know, it's got 363 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:35,320 Speaker 1: these these bold and heavy flavors, and it can be fancy, 364 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:38,680 Speaker 1: but it's not fussy. It's a very homey and comforting 365 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:41,800 Speaker 1: kind of dish man. And I really want some ramen now. 366 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:47,040 Speaker 1: I buckled and bought some from downstairs. I might too. 367 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:51,119 Speaker 1: It's like fifteen dollars, but it's really good. That was 368 00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:52,960 Speaker 1: some of one of my favorite things I had Japan 369 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:56,840 Speaker 1: was a bowl of ramen. It was so good. All right, 370 00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:00,800 Speaker 1: So that's the history. Yeah, let's talk about some of 371 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:04,320 Speaker 1: this nitty gritty stuff. Yeah, but first let's take another 372 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:16,840 Speaker 1: quick break for a word from our sponsor, and we're back. 373 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:22,280 Speaker 1: Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you. So. Traditionally speaking, yes, Ramen, 374 00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:26,199 Speaker 1: noodle making has been a labor intensive process, because all right, 375 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:29,040 Speaker 1: you've got to need your water, flour, salt and and 376 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,399 Speaker 1: can sue you together to hydrate the flour to give 377 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:35,480 Speaker 1: the gluten molecules in its access to each other. In 378 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:37,640 Speaker 1: the videos that I've seen, this is accomplished by by 379 00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:41,320 Speaker 1: rolling out the dough with this huge wide shaft of bamboo. 380 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:43,399 Speaker 1: Then you have to rest the dough to let the 381 00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:46,520 Speaker 1: gluten all link up, and then either hand pull the 382 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:50,719 Speaker 1: dough into noodles or more often tediously like stretch and 383 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:53,439 Speaker 1: roll the dough out super thin and flat. Then you 384 00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:55,800 Speaker 1: roll it up like a tube of tinfoil. You roll 385 00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:59,199 Speaker 1: the dough along along a bar and then remove the 386 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:02,399 Speaker 1: bar and lice the dough into noodles, which if you 387 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:05,480 Speaker 1: want curlier noodles, you can kind of hand scrunch. Gluten science. 388 00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:07,960 Speaker 1: By the way, it's topic for a whole other episode, y'all. 389 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:11,320 Speaker 1: That was the super short version of how gluten works 390 00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:14,479 Speaker 1: in a noodle. I got tired. I had to. I 391 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:18,680 Speaker 1: had to go research lambas Okay, it was very important. 392 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:22,280 Speaker 1: It was okay. These days, um, some chefs do still 393 00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:25,280 Speaker 1: prepare noodles by hand, but it is more common for 394 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:28,280 Speaker 1: a Raman restaurant to order fresh or even dried Rama 395 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:32,000 Speaker 1: noodles from manufacturer. Um. These producers use electric machines to 396 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:36,159 Speaker 1: need rollout, slice, and scrunch the dough. Although for the 397 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:38,720 Speaker 1: best of both worlds, there are a few Raman joints 398 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:43,360 Speaker 1: in China and Japan that employ scare quotes employ robots 399 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:47,919 Speaker 1: to make their noodles. And this isn't quite like if 400 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:51,560 Speaker 1: you're picturing like Rosy from the Jetsons was doing that 401 00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:53,600 Speaker 1: kind of thing. It's not quite Rosy. Um. They're they're 402 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:56,760 Speaker 1: just these robotic arms that do this repetitive work of 403 00:24:56,800 --> 00:24:59,200 Speaker 1: noodle making, sort of the same way that we're used 404 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:04,120 Speaker 1: to seeing like robot arms do the work of car making. Yeah. Uh, simply, 405 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:08,520 Speaker 1: that's just that it's easy. I could I could create 406 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:13,480 Speaker 1: a robot that does that. Now, I'm technological innovation is 407 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:16,840 Speaker 1: really incredible anyway. But so that's traditional ramen. If we're 408 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:19,880 Speaker 1: going to talk about instant ramen, let's talk about the 409 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,959 Speaker 1: cooking times of all of these products for a second. 410 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:27,159 Speaker 1: Let's do that, and he seems dubious, I promise you 411 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:30,919 Speaker 1: this is going places. Okay. So fresh noodles are delicious 412 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:34,119 Speaker 1: and they cook super fast, which is an important factor 413 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:36,080 Speaker 1: for busy folks who just want to be able to 414 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:38,920 Speaker 1: order food at a ramanna and like start eating within 415 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:42,400 Speaker 1: like three to five minutes. The downside is a fresh 416 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:44,800 Speaker 1: noodles only last a couple of days, and that's only 417 00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:47,080 Speaker 1: if you keep them cool and dry. The big draw 418 00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:49,800 Speaker 1: of dry packaged noodles is that their shelf stable for 419 00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:52,399 Speaker 1: a couple of years, um because and that's because just 420 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:54,880 Speaker 1: about all the moisture that would let micro organisms grow 421 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,800 Speaker 1: has been removed. But dry noodles take a bunch longer 422 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:02,760 Speaker 1: to cook. So how do dry instant ramen noodles cook 423 00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:08,560 Speaker 1: so dang fast? Have no idea. The key to this 424 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:11,400 Speaker 1: is also the reason why instant ramen has traditionally been 425 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:17,720 Speaker 1: so disproportionately fatty for something that's just effing noodles and salt. Uh. 426 00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:23,240 Speaker 1: They're flash fried during manufacturing. Ah. The process goes like this. 427 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,680 Speaker 1: First you create your dough, uh, make it into noodles, 428 00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:28,880 Speaker 1: cook the noodles, then air dry them just a little 429 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:30,720 Speaker 1: bit so that they're not like soggy, and then take 430 00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:33,320 Speaker 1: these noodles and deep fry them at above the boiling 431 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:35,640 Speaker 1: point of water like a hundred and sixty degrees celsius 432 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:39,120 Speaker 1: a k a like three twenty fahrenheit, and the remaining 433 00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:43,399 Speaker 1: molecules of water inside these noodles evaporate so quickly in 434 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:46,760 Speaker 1: the heat that they leave tiny pockets of air behind 435 00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:50,280 Speaker 1: in the finished noodles. This both gets rid of that 436 00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:54,520 Speaker 1: germ friendly water content for shelf stability and also leaves 437 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:59,080 Speaker 1: you with a craggy noodle micro structure that vastly increases 438 00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:02,639 Speaker 1: each noodles face area. So when you drop your blocko 439 00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:05,480 Speaker 1: instant noodles into hot water, the water gets just all 440 00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:07,840 Speaker 1: up into those tiny air pockets and cooks the noodles 441 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:11,359 Speaker 1: way faster than regular dried needles can cook. That's so 442 00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:15,320 Speaker 1: cool these I know, right, I never even thought about it. 443 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:17,400 Speaker 1: I kind of freaked out. I love it. Um. These 444 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:20,080 Speaker 1: crags are also what uncooked rama noodles have a sort 445 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:24,400 Speaker 1: of like cracker like texture, whereas uncooked dry spaghetti certainly 446 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:26,480 Speaker 1: does not. I don't know if anyone else has eaten 447 00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:30,240 Speaker 1: both of those things. But I have. Yeah, I actually 448 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:34,199 Speaker 1: really embarrassing story about it. But we will move on. 449 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:38,399 Speaker 1: Maybe I can get you to talk about that in 450 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:41,520 Speaker 1: your favorite bowl of rama after after the rest of this. Okay, 451 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:45,800 Speaker 1: all right, um, Thanks to technology, some instant rama noodles 452 00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:49,320 Speaker 1: are made by non frying methods. Um. These generally fall 453 00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:52,480 Speaker 1: into the category of like baking and or air drying 454 00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:55,240 Speaker 1: and and the idea here is that you again take 455 00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:57,960 Speaker 1: cooked noodles, then you cook them in just a very 456 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:01,399 Speaker 1: thin layer of oil and expose them too hot, fast 457 00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:03,679 Speaker 1: moving air. The heat is at least a hundred and 458 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:07,280 Speaker 1: forty five degrees celsius a k a three fahrenheit. The 459 00:28:07,359 --> 00:28:09,920 Speaker 1: heat and air flow are enough to create the crags 460 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:12,800 Speaker 1: that you want in the noodles with much, much, much 461 00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:17,080 Speaker 1: less cooking fat. This is how those home air fryers 462 00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:21,399 Speaker 1: basically work. Yeah, and all of this brings us to nutrition. 463 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:24,320 Speaker 1: Oh boy, I'm sure it's very healthy and I should 464 00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:26,960 Speaker 1: be eating it every day every day. Yeah. No, that's yeah, 465 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:31,560 Speaker 1: that's that's nutrition. Sec been over okay, great, No, well, okay, 466 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:34,680 Speaker 1: so the nutrition of fresh cooked ramen, of course, depends 467 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:37,640 Speaker 1: heavily on the recipe. And as we spent this entire 468 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:42,400 Speaker 1: episode talking about there are infinite recipes for ramen um. Generally, 469 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:44,320 Speaker 1: I would say that if you're going to add any 470 00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:47,920 Speaker 1: of the extras that any ramgna offer, go for the 471 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:51,120 Speaker 1: extra meat or extra vege, not extra noodles, that that 472 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:56,000 Speaker 1: will help you keep feeling more stated, more longer. Yeah, 473 00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:58,680 Speaker 1: which was the best. It was the best phrasing phrasing 474 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:01,560 Speaker 1: I've ever used. I do not need to tell you 475 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:05,160 Speaker 1: that instant ramen into and of itself is not a 476 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:09,240 Speaker 1: health food. It's mostly carbohydrates and salt and contains almost 477 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:11,960 Speaker 1: twice as much fat as protein, and the fat is 478 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:15,640 Speaker 1: typically palm oil, which is a bad fat. Instant ramen 479 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:18,880 Speaker 1: also has a smattering of vitamins and minerals other than salt, 480 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:22,120 Speaker 1: but it's proteins are of the types that you you 481 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:24,840 Speaker 1: really need to compliment with stuff from other foods in 482 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:27,080 Speaker 1: order to give your body all the stuff it needs 483 00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:30,840 Speaker 1: to to just get work done. So overall, instant ramen 484 00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:32,680 Speaker 1: will make you feel full for a little while, but 485 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:36,360 Speaker 1: it won't really keep you going strong, you know. Yeah, 486 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:39,160 Speaker 1: when I was in college, I didn't use the flavor 487 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:43,800 Speaker 1: packet and I would add hot sauce soy sauce and 488 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:47,120 Speaker 1: mushrooms and finished that was mine, so I like kind 489 00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:50,480 Speaker 1: of improved it. Yeah, I mean the oil is really 490 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:53,720 Speaker 1: all in the noodles, not in the seasoning packet. So 491 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:55,880 Speaker 1: so if you were looking for fat food, but but 492 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:57,720 Speaker 1: the fat will keep you. The fat is part of 493 00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:00,560 Speaker 1: what makes it feeling so okay. Yeah, but you but 494 00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:03,800 Speaker 1: you missed out on some of the salt of uh. 495 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:07,040 Speaker 1: And strangely enough, mushrooms and corn, which are two classic 496 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:10,160 Speaker 1: Raman toppings, are basically the two vegetables that will help 497 00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:12,360 Speaker 1: your body make the best use of that protein. And 498 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:18,880 Speaker 1: those Ramen noodles, so you're doing even knowing, uh, if 499 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:22,120 Speaker 1: you're gonna eat it and look y'all like to this day, 500 00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:28,280 Speaker 1: I just love I love imported instant Raman's. They're so good. Um, 501 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:30,480 Speaker 1: And you know, and like it's quick and it's easy 502 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:33,760 Speaker 1: and it's relatively inexpensive to just add some frozen vege 503 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:37,440 Speaker 1: to the pot. I like, I like spinach as well. Um. 504 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:39,400 Speaker 1: You can also stir in a whole egg after you 505 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:41,280 Speaker 1: turn the heat off at the end of the cooking process, 506 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:43,320 Speaker 1: so that the residual heat will kind of cook the 507 00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:45,960 Speaker 1: white for an egg drop soup. Type effect, and the 508 00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:50,640 Speaker 1: yolk wol sort of thicken the broth, so it's tasty. Um. 509 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:53,400 Speaker 1: But but hey, all this being said, like, we we 510 00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:56,840 Speaker 1: never want to slam a food that's inexpensive and tasty 511 00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:00,680 Speaker 1: and can be prepared easily, especially like so easily that 512 00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:04,000 Speaker 1: in emergency situations it's a pretty common thing to to 513 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:07,160 Speaker 1: to ship out to people. Um. Anthropologists who have studied 514 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:10,680 Speaker 1: Raman's worldwide youth say that overall, raman does more good 515 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:14,200 Speaker 1: than harm nutrition wise, especially in cities with food desserts 516 00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:17,040 Speaker 1: where the urban poor really don't have access to anything 517 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:23,160 Speaker 1: more nutritious than instant raman. Yeah, good for you instant ramen. Yeah. 518 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:26,560 Speaker 1: But back to Annie's earlier point about the salt, what 519 00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:35,520 Speaker 1: about SG? What about it? Okay? So, monosodium glutamate is 520 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:39,000 Speaker 1: a flavoring that helps add like savory salty tastes to foods, 521 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,560 Speaker 1: and it got a lot of undeserved bad press starting 522 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:45,600 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty eight, when a doctor got a letter 523 00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:49,400 Speaker 1: published in the New England Journal of Medicine pondering why 524 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:53,320 Speaker 1: he often felt ill after eating at American Chinese restaurants. 525 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:56,080 Speaker 1: His his concepts that he throughout in this in this 526 00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:58,600 Speaker 1: letter where maybe it's the soy sauce, maybe it's the 527 00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:03,360 Speaker 1: cooking wine, and or maybe it's MSG. And for some reason, 528 00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:06,080 Speaker 1: the press and the public just kind of went wild 529 00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:09,560 Speaker 1: with the MSG thing. They were calling it Chinese restaurant syndrome. 530 00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:14,400 Speaker 1: UM research published in two dozen six that reviewed almost 531 00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 1: forty years of research studies found no serious side effects 532 00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:21,680 Speaker 1: or sensitivities in humans to the amount of m SG 533 00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,520 Speaker 1: that you would consume through food. Maybe like headache or 534 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:26,440 Speaker 1: dry mouth if you're eating on an empty stomach and 535 00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:29,800 Speaker 1: you're not properly hydrated, but that's it. The really bad 536 00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:33,600 Speaker 1: effects that researchers found only happened when they injected MSG 537 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:37,720 Speaker 1: under the skin of baby mice. So don't inject MSG 538 00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:40,480 Speaker 1: under your skin and you you'll you'll be fine. Yeah, 539 00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:43,720 Speaker 1: I just don't do that. Yeah. Um. Also, side note 540 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 1: of referring to a problem with a widely used chemical 541 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:49,920 Speaker 1: compound is specifically Chinese related as pretty racist, So so 542 00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:52,360 Speaker 1: don't do that either. Well, it's news to me that 543 00:32:52,440 --> 00:33:01,320 Speaker 1: it was just one dude, Like, hey, like I wonder, okay, Yeah, 544 00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:05,080 Speaker 1: that's certainly something we'll have to look into. Absolutely, Yeah, 545 00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:07,400 Speaker 1: that the whole story of how it was derived by 546 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:12,560 Speaker 1: some Japanese scientists. It's super fascinating. So cool. Well, here 547 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:15,720 Speaker 1: is our random portion random. I just wanted to mention 548 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:19,440 Speaker 1: ramen burgers, just in case you didn't know they were 549 00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:21,440 Speaker 1: a thing. I actually, what, what on what on earth 550 00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:24,360 Speaker 1: is a ramen burger? Oh it's a burger or two 551 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:30,280 Speaker 1: like um, instant packages like the instead of buns. Yeah, 552 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:33,719 Speaker 1: and they're kind of cooked and you eat it. I mean, yeah, 553 00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:35,800 Speaker 1: that's how I've had it. But I think you can 554 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:39,040 Speaker 1: get like a burger with buns and the two blocks 555 00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:41,960 Speaker 1: of ramen noodles. I My face is going through this 556 00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:45,880 Speaker 1: number of confused contortions. I have twitching. Nothing to say 557 00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:50,760 Speaker 1: about that. Uh, because restaurateurs will put gold leaf on 558 00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:53,680 Speaker 1: anything to make a headline. Um, you could at one 559 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:56,360 Speaker 1: point buy a one and eighty dollar bowl of ramen 560 00:33:57,080 --> 00:34:00,280 Speaker 1: from Manhattan restaurants cola. Um. It all took in with 561 00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:03,840 Speaker 1: like la goo beef and shaved truffle. Now your face 562 00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:05,600 Speaker 1: is doing the same thing that my face was. Just 563 00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:08,719 Speaker 1: is I'd better be really full for a long time 564 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:11,880 Speaker 1: after that. I get hungry an hour. I'm gonna be 565 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:16,280 Speaker 1: so mad, like I'm going to eat this, but just hypothetically. 566 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:21,920 Speaker 1: Also the restaurant closed, so well, okay um, But if 567 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:25,440 Speaker 1: you are eating ramen out at a ramen shop, cultural 568 00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:28,359 Speaker 1: notes on doing that, it is, in fact, okay even 569 00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:31,480 Speaker 1: preferred to kind of angle your head over the bowl 570 00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:35,280 Speaker 1: and slurp your noodles, like make a slurpy sound. Um 571 00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:37,200 Speaker 1: that the heat of the broth will start over cooking 572 00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:39,759 Speaker 1: the noodles within just eight minutes, so you have to 573 00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:41,640 Speaker 1: you have to do it fast, and the slipping will 574 00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:44,160 Speaker 1: help cool and aerate the broth, bringing the scent to 575 00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:46,480 Speaker 1: your nose. Um, and the sound is actually considered a 576 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:49,440 Speaker 1: compliment to the chef. Also, when and if you put 577 00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:53,000 Speaker 1: your chopsticks down, do not stick them upright in the bowl. 578 00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:56,080 Speaker 1: That's a reminiscent of of a Japanese funerary practice. So 579 00:34:56,440 --> 00:35:00,840 Speaker 1: don't stick chopsticks into bowls, lay them across the top right. Yeah, totally. 580 00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:03,920 Speaker 1: When I was having my delicious bowl of ramen in Japan, 581 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:08,840 Speaker 1: everywhere it was the sound of slurping. It's like for 582 00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:10,759 Speaker 1: when I first walked in, I didn't know what was 583 00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:15,640 Speaker 1: going on? What what what is it? Yeah? Oh that's 584 00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:19,160 Speaker 1: beautiful though it was, and it was delicious. If you 585 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:21,680 Speaker 1: want to make ramen at home, but A don't want 586 00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:25,400 Speaker 1: to use instant noodles, and be can't find regular rama noodles. 587 00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:28,560 Speaker 1: Can you make your own chewy perfect noodles out of 588 00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:32,759 Speaker 1: regular non alkalized pasta? I don't know. Well you can't really, 589 00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:35,080 Speaker 1: but if you add two or three teaspoons of baking 590 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:38,440 Speaker 1: soda per quart of water that you boil your pasta in, 591 00:35:38,719 --> 00:35:45,320 Speaker 1: they'll come out yellower and spring here. Okay, so little, yeah, sure, 592 00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:49,719 Speaker 1: kind of sort of m and uh, okay, tell us, 593 00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:52,879 Speaker 1: tell us about your bowl of ramen? What what was it? 594 00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:56,240 Speaker 1: I need to I need to hear. It's actually funny 595 00:35:56,320 --> 00:36:00,400 Speaker 1: because in Japan a lot of the raman restaurants. Actually 596 00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:02,120 Speaker 1: I went to two and both of them were this way. 597 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:03,920 Speaker 1: It's like a vending machine. I thought you were going 598 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:06,440 Speaker 1: to get raman out of a vending machine, but it's 599 00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:08,399 Speaker 1: like just how you order. Yeah, that's how you order. Yeah, 600 00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:11,080 Speaker 1: there's a machine with like pictures. Yes. So I'm like 601 00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:15,160 Speaker 1: this bumbling tourists, trying to figure it out. And the 602 00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:20,040 Speaker 1: I accidentally went to apparently a really famous place. It's 603 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:22,000 Speaker 1: I think you guys probably heard of it. But you 604 00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:25,799 Speaker 1: go in and you're like in a booth. Oh yeah, yeah, 605 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:28,040 Speaker 1: it's like a little there's like little partitions, like in 606 00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:30,320 Speaker 1: a voting booth or like a like a phone booth. 607 00:36:30,760 --> 00:36:33,479 Speaker 1: And then the there's like a little window and there's 608 00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:35,680 Speaker 1: a kind of a bamboo thing hanging out front of 609 00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:37,320 Speaker 1: you and they'll roll it up in the food slide 610 00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:40,120 Speaker 1: down you like never interact with the human No, you're there. 611 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:44,839 Speaker 1: But my favorite was I was in Kyoto station. So 612 00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:47,920 Speaker 1: I was in a train station and there's a whole 613 00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:51,319 Speaker 1: full or dedicated to rama and it's every restaurant on 614 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:55,160 Speaker 1: the I think the eleventh floor or eleventh raman yeah, 615 00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:57,760 Speaker 1: and so I just went into one and I got 616 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:02,719 Speaker 1: one with um chicken in like a chicken base um 617 00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:07,000 Speaker 1: and it was just like the most wonderful and comforting 618 00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:11,600 Speaker 1: chicken soup Roman mixture I've ever had. It was so kind. 619 00:37:11,719 --> 00:37:16,880 Speaker 1: Oh man, Yeah, that's that's wonderful. It was Thank you 620 00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:20,200 Speaker 1: was huge. Oh oh, I know it was so big. 621 00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:24,040 Speaker 1: Yeah you did, no way it was I leaving any 622 00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:27,319 Speaker 1: of that mine. I think. Thank you. Thank you for 623 00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:30,200 Speaker 1: sharing your Robin story. Oh yes, thank you for asking. 624 00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:33,680 Speaker 1: Yeah time. Speaking of stories, this brings us to our 625 00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:39,680 Speaker 1: listener mail. Yes, Sandra wrote in response to a pumpkin episode. 626 00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:43,160 Speaker 1: I live in Nova Scotia, Canada, and a town here 627 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:46,920 Speaker 1: called Windsor host an annual pumpkin regatta. What this means 628 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:50,319 Speaker 1: is they find grow massive pumpkins, hauled them out and 629 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:55,319 Speaker 1: use them as boats. I kid you, not boats. I'm 630 00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:57,840 Speaker 1: including the link with some pictures for you as this 631 00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:00,680 Speaker 1: amazingly quirky event and you all needed to know that 632 00:38:00,719 --> 00:38:03,120 Speaker 1: pumpkins are not only amazing to eat, but you can 633 00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:06,399 Speaker 1: also use them as modes of transportation. And the link 634 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:08,760 Speaker 1: was amazing, the pictures were amazing. A lot of people 635 00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:11,520 Speaker 1: wrote us about this and I want to see it 636 00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:14,919 Speaker 1: in person so much. Yeah, the people like like dress 637 00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:17,879 Speaker 1: up like in costumes for this, for this pumpkin boat race. 638 00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:24,719 Speaker 1: It's I mean, pumpkin boat race alone just rings a 639 00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:27,640 Speaker 1: smile to my face. I want to see it so badly. 640 00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:33,080 Speaker 1: Field Trip list Um About cinnamon, Angela wrote a while back, 641 00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:35,360 Speaker 1: I had also learned that cinnamon was a natural de 642 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:37,719 Speaker 1: turrent to ants. The reason I needed to know this 643 00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:40,040 Speaker 1: is because our cat is a messy eater and leaves 644 00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:42,759 Speaker 1: crumbles of kibbles on the floor near her food bowl. 645 00:38:43,239 --> 00:38:45,680 Speaker 1: I feel you there, uh. In summer, we would find 646 00:38:45,719 --> 00:38:47,839 Speaker 1: little black ants coming in and trying to make off 647 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:50,880 Speaker 1: with the kibble crumbs. I had previously tried sprinkling cinnamon 648 00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:53,480 Speaker 1: in the areas I suspected they entered the house, but 649 00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:56,759 Speaker 1: they kept thwarting me. This year, when they returned, I 650 00:38:56,760 --> 00:38:59,040 Speaker 1: decided to show them I was serious and use cinnamon 651 00:38:59,160 --> 00:39:01,560 Speaker 1: leaf oil. I added some drops of the oil to 652 00:39:01,600 --> 00:39:04,319 Speaker 1: a cotton ball and swiped it along the baseboards the 653 00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:08,040 Speaker 1: likely entrance areas and could watch them turn tail and run. 654 00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:10,719 Speaker 1: I had to reapply the oil about twice a week 655 00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:12,680 Speaker 1: for a few weeks, but so far they seem to 656 00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:15,320 Speaker 1: have gotten the picture. It's amazing how quickly our kitchen 657 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:18,360 Speaker 1: smelled like the holidays. Another fun side story is that 658 00:39:18,360 --> 00:39:20,680 Speaker 1: when I worked in a production bakery, we would order 659 00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:23,640 Speaker 1: ten to fifteen pound boxes of cinnamon at a time, 660 00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:27,240 Speaker 1: would fill smaller containers with cinnamon and have to scoop 661 00:39:27,239 --> 00:39:29,720 Speaker 1: it from the larger box. When the cinnamon would shift 662 00:39:29,719 --> 00:39:31,880 Speaker 1: in the box, it had a fluidity to it that 663 00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:36,600 Speaker 1: was mesmerizing. It looked like slashing water. Pretty cool. I agree, 664 00:39:36,680 --> 00:39:41,120 Speaker 1: that is pretty cool. The fluid dynamics of substances like 665 00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:45,920 Speaker 1: cinnamon and actually ants super fascinating. Fire ants move like fluid. 666 00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:48,200 Speaker 1: It's oh, it's so cool. That is cool a lot 667 00:39:48,200 --> 00:39:50,760 Speaker 1: of us. Many people wrote us that the um cinnamon 668 00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:52,839 Speaker 1: thing worked for them in getting rid of as So 669 00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:56,319 Speaker 1: you've got an ant problem, maybe give it a trip. Yeah, yeah, 670 00:39:56,440 --> 00:40:01,280 Speaker 1: I'm gonna you got you got the with the kibbles 671 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:04,200 Speaker 1: and ants thing going on as well. I've got some 672 00:40:04,239 --> 00:40:07,320 Speaker 1: fire ants that just started camp camping there like staking 673 00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:10,839 Speaker 1: out my house. So no, and I'm getting increasingly I'm 674 00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:15,200 Speaker 1: having increasing allergic reactions to It's time for cinnamon. It's 675 00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:18,279 Speaker 1: apparently time for cinnamon. Get serious. Well, if you have 676 00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:21,640 Speaker 1: any other tips similar to that, or any other food 677 00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:23,919 Speaker 1: or drink related thing you'd like to write us about, 678 00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:26,560 Speaker 1: you can do so. Our email is food Stuff at 679 00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:29,160 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. We're also on social media. 680 00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:32,000 Speaker 1: You can find us on Facebook and Twitter at food 681 00:40:32,040 --> 00:40:36,760 Speaker 1: Stuff hs W. We're on Instagram at food stuff Thanks 682 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:39,840 Speaker 1: so much to our producer Dylan Fagan for doing everything 683 00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:41,839 Speaker 1: that he does. We hope that we'll hear from you, 684 00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:43,839 Speaker 1: and we hope that lots more good things are coming 685 00:40:43,880 --> 00:40:46,120 Speaker 1: your way.