Most people don't understand what the big deal is about ramen. The word arrives in America attached to a brick of instant noodles and a foil packet, and that is where the understanding usually stops.
Ramen came to Japan from China in the early twentieth century and became something else there. It is three things held in balance: a broth, a thin wheat noodle, and toppings β bean sprouts, a boiled egg, bamboo shoots.
Ramen is not soup
This is the part that gets lost. The broth is a bath for the noodles. It is there to carry and season them, not to be finished like a bowl of soup. Once you eat it that way, the whole dish makes sense.
What makes it real
Authentic ramen needs someone trained to make it. It needs a high-quality noodle and a broth built from scratch. There is no version of this that comes out of a packet, and no shortcut that tastes like the real thing.
You will find it at Ichi-Kaku Ramen, 350 N Eastern Blvd #200, Fayetteville, NC 28301 β in the Roses and Food Lion shopping center.