George Solt - The Untold History of Ramen: How Political Crisis in Japan Spawned a Global Food Craze

Darra Goldstein, Editor

Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices, by Andrew Dalby

Eating Right in the Renaissance, by Ken Albala

Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health, by Marion Nestle

Camembert: A National Myth, by Pierre Boisard

Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety, by Marion Nestle

Eating Apes, by Dale Peterson

Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet, by Harvey Levenstein

Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America, by Harvey Levenstein

Encarnacins Kitchen: Mexican Recipes from Nineteenth-Century California: Selections from Encarnacin Pinedos El cocinero espaol, by Encarnacin Pinedo, edited and translated by Dan Strehl, with an essay by Victor Valle

Zinfandel: A History of a Grape and Its Wine, by Charles L. Sullivan, with a foreword by Paul Draper

Tsukiji: The Fish Market at the Center of the World, by Theodore C. Bestor

Born Again Bodies: Flesh and Spirit in American Christianity, by R. Marie Griffith

Our Overweight Children: What Parents, Schools, and Communities Can Do to Control the Fatness Epidemic, by Sharron Dalton

The Art of Cooking: The First Modern Cookery Book, by The Eminent Maestro Martino of Como, edited and with an introduction by Luigi Ballerini, translated and annotated by Jeremy Parzen, and with fifty modernized recipes by Stefania Barzini

The Queen of Fats: Why Omega - 3s Were Removed from the Western Diet and What We Can Do to Replace Them, by Susan Allport

Meals to Come: A History of the Future of Food, by Warren Belasco

The Spice Route: A History, by John Keay

Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World: A Concise History with Recipes, by Lilia Zaouali, translated by M.B. DeBevoise, with a foreword by Charles Perry

Arranging the Meal: A History of Table Service in France, by Jean-Louis Flandrin, translated by Julie E. Johnson, with Sylvie and Antonio Roder; with a foreword to the English-language edition by Beatrice Fink

The Taste of Place: A Cultural Journey into Terroir, by Amy B. Trubek

Food: The History of Taste, edited by Paul Freedman

M.F.K. Fisher among the Pots and Pans: Celebrating Her Kitchens, by Joan Reardon, with a foreword by Amanda Hesser

Cooking: The Quintessential Art, by Herv This and Pierre Gagnaire, translated by M.B. DeBevoise

Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century, by Laura Shapiro

Of Sugar and Snow: A History of Ice Cream Making, by Jeri Quinzio

Encyclopedia of Pasta, by Oretta Zanini De Vita, translated by Maureen B. Fant, with a foreword by Carol Field

Tastes and Temptations: Food and Art in Renaissance Italy, by John Varriano

Free for All: Fixing School Food in America, by Janet Poppendieck

Breaking Bread: Recipes and Stories from Immigrant Kitchens, by Lynne Christy Anderson, with a foreword by Corby Kummer

Culinary Ephemera: An Illustrated History, by William Woys Weaver

Eating Mud Crabs in Kandahar: Stories of Food during Wartime by the Worlds Leading Correspondents, edited by Matt McAllester

Weighing In: Obesity, Food Justice, and the Limits of Capitalism, by Julie Guthman

Why Calories Count: From Science to Politics, by Marion Nestle and Malden Nesheim

Curried Cultures: Globalization, Food, and South Asia, edited by Krishnendu Ray and Tulasi Srinivas

The Cookbook Library: Four Centuries of the Cooks, Writers, and Recipes That Made the Modern Cookbook, by Anne Willan, with Mark Cherniavsky and Kyri Claflin

Coffee Life in Japan, by Merry White

American Tuna: The Rise and Fall of an Improbable Food, by Andrew F. Smith

A Feast of Weeds: A Literary Guide to Foraging and Cooking Wild Edible Plants, by Luigi Ballerini, translated by Gianpiero W. Doebler, with recipes by Ada De Santis and illustrations by Giuliano Della Casa

The Philosophy of Food, by David M. Kaplan

Beyond Hummus and Falafel: Social and Political Aspects of Palestinian Food in Israel, by Liora Gvion, translated by David Wesley and Elana Wesley

The Life of Cheese: Crafting Food and Value in America, by Heather Paxson

Popes, Peasants, and Shepherds: Recipes and Lore from Rome and Lazio, by Oretta Zanini De Vita, translated by Maureen B. Fant, foreword by Ernesto Di Renzo

Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History, by Rachel Laudan

Inside the California Food Revolution: Thirty Years That Changed Our Culinary Consciousness, by Joyce Goldstein, with Dore Brown

Cumin, Camels, and Caravans: A Spice Odyssey, by Gary Paul Nabhan

Balancing on a Planet: Critical Thinking and Effective Action for the Future of Food and Agriculture, by David A. Cleveland

The Darjeeling Distinction: Labor and Justice on Fair Trade Tea Plantations in India, by Sarah Besky

How the Other Half Ate: A History of Working-Class Meals at the Turn of the Century, by Katherine Leonard Turner

The Untold History of Ramen: How Political Crisis in Japan Spawned a Global Food Craze, by George Solt

Word of Mouth: What We Talk About When We Talk About Food, by Priscilla Ferguson

The Untold History of Ramen

HOW POLITICAL CRISIS IN JAPAN SPAWNED A GLOBAL FOOD CRAZE

George Solt

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

Berkeley Los Angeles London

University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.

University of California Press

Berkeley and Los Angeles, California

University of California Press, Ltd.

London, England

2014 by The Regents of the University of California

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Solt, George.

The untold history of ramen : how political crisis in Japan spawned a global food craze / George Solt.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-520-27756-4 (cloth, alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-520-28235-3 (pbk., alk. paper)

eISBN 9780520958371

1. Ramen (CookingJapanHistory. 2. JapanSocial life and customsHistory. I. Title.

TX809.N65S65 2014

641.8220952dc23

2013034120

Manufactured in the United States of America

23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally responsible and sustainable printing practices, UC Press has printed this book on Natures Natural, a fiber that contains 30% post-consumer waste and meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z 39.48-1992 ( R 1997) ( Permanence of Paper ).

You can tell a lot about a fellows character by his way of eating jelly beans.

Ronald Reagan

For Beverly

Contents

Illustrations

TABLES

FIGURES

Acknowledgments

The book began as a doctoral dissertation at the University of California San Diego, where the late Masao Miyoshi was kind enough to allow me to pursue this topic while working toward a degree in history. My advisors at UCSD, Stefan Tanaka and Takashi Fujitani, were supportive and generous with their time as well. Christena Turner and Daniel Widener helped me distill the project when it was still in a much earlier stage, and Robert Edelmann was a source of friendly advice at UCSD. Hifumi Ito, Masato Nishimura, Mayumi Mochizuki, Yutaka Kunitake, and Sanae Isozumi at UCSD were also very kind in helping me gather research materials and think through the topic at an early stage, and I thank Tomoyuki Sasaki, Ryan Moran, and Denis Gainty for their camaraderie.