Simple, but always our favorite

 

Ramen is one of our (me and Leo) most favorite foods. Ramen is arguably the most commonplace instant foods with powder soup separately placed with a chunk of noodle in a plastic bag. In Korea, you can just say "ramen" referring to instant ramen, especially bag ramen. Cup ramen is ramen that is packaged in the paper cup container and can be cooked by pouring water. According to the instruction on the container of cup ramen, we are supposed to wait at least for 3~4 minutes, but I usually was impatient and ate just 2 minutes after pouring hot water. Amazingly, 2 minutes seem to be long enough for cooking.

Ramens are also Korea's representative foods that can be found in the menu of small eateries and snack bars. They are usually made with noodles, soup, and various additional ingredients. Common additional ingredients are eggs, onions, and green onions, and rice cakes (eomuks), sausages, and cheese are also added for the purpose of eating more plentifully.

At the time of this writing, Ramens are consumed quite a lot not only in Korea but also in other parts of the world because they are easy to cook and could be best for late-night snacks. These noodles are always loved by students who only have small allowance from their parents because they are outstanding in terms of cost-effectiveness. This was the case with me too when I was a high school student. I used to go to my favorite snack bar nearby the main gate of my high school to eat ramen with kimchi.

In 1963, instant ramen was first released by Samyang in Korea. Jeon Joong-yoon, chairman of Samyang Foods, who ran an insurance company in the late 1950s, brought in instant ramen, which he encountered when he was in Japan. He thought it would suit the situation in Korea where not so many foods were available due to the economic difficulties after three years long war. However, the products released at the time were not very popular because the taste did not suit the taste of Koreans. The first Samyang ramen at the time was a Japanese-style chicken ramen based on the manufacturing method of the Japanese company. For this reason, it is said that it tasted greasy because it had a soup that were Japanese style chicken soup.

However, Samyang Foods did not stop and set up a soup laboratory in the company to make products that suit tastes of Koreans. The company held a public tasting on Jongno Street and even went to Cheong Wa Dae (presidential palace) to present ramen to President Park Chung-hee. Park Chung-hee, who ate ramen for the first time, commented, "We Koreans like spicy and salty taste, so I hope more red pepper powder is added." These days, many Korean ramen soups have spicy taste and I think that is one of the factors leading to commercial success.

Although Samyang food is the pioneer in the ramen market, now, Nongsim is the most successful producer. The most popular ramen these days is Shin Ramen. Shin Ramen, which was released in 1986 with emphasis on the spicy taste that Koreans like, has been unrivaled in the market for 32 years from 1991 to 2022. Honestly, this product is way too spicy for me (and also for Leo) and my favorite ramen is Anseongtangmyeon (this is also a Nongsim product), not Shin Ramen (Shin means spicy) at all.

Chapagetti, which ranked number 2, further solidifying its status as a representative brand of jjajang (black bean source) ramen. Chapagetti is the most favorite cup ramen for me and Leo. For convenience, we prefer cup Chapagetti to bagged counterpart.

In the end, we realized that there is no Samyang product that are in the list of ramens we love. But things always change, and we expect Samyang will also try to come up with something new.