When you think of Japanese food, what do you think of? Sushi? No, you’re thinking too gourmet, think of a food worse than that. Street ramen? No, even worse than that. Ok, I’ll just cut to the chase, think instant noodles. If you’ve ever wanted a hot meal in three minutes with no more than just hot water, then you’re more than familiar with instant ramen.
For better or worse, instant noodles are one of the most important Japanese culinary creations of the modern day. And Japanese company Nissin leads the world in production of instant ramen. This is the company that not only invented instant noodles, but today sells both Cup Noodles and Top Ramen. The company has its own museum in Osaka, which Erin wrote about way back in the day.
But Nissin, not being content with just one instant ramen museum, decided to open another museum in Yokohama on September 17 this year.
The Yokohama Museum
The Yokohama museum is extremely similar to the Osaka location in a lot of ways. The museum, of course, has the history of Nissin detailed in the museum, displaying products from the company’s past, pictures from early days of the company, and other interesting Nissin tidbits. But of course, a museum dedicated to the history of Nissin sounds pretty boring to most people, so Nissin has made the museum more exciting by adding these cool exhibits:
My Cup Noodle Factory
Probably the coolest part of the museum is the “My Cup Noodle Factory,” where you get to make your very own Cup Noodle from start to finish. You get to design the cup itself, by that I mean you get some markers and a blank cup.
“…and some sprinkles, and some Oreo bits…”
You get to choose the fillings for your Cup Noodles, which include foods like shrimp, kimchi, asparagus, and cheese. From there, the museum freeze dries and seals your noodles for you to enjoy later at home, or in a bomb shelter in some sort of apocalyptic scenario.
Make Your Own Noodles
The Nissin museum also teaches you how to make your very own ramen noodles. The museum walks you through all the steps, from kneading and rolling the noodles, to cutting them up, steaming them, and ultimately flash frying them to turn them instant ramen. It’s all the taste of the three-minute instant ramen you know and love, with all the effort of making an actual meal!
Former Prime Minister Richard Gere watches child laborers produce ramen.
The museum requires groups to make reservations in advance to make the noodles, but it definitely does sound like an interesting thing to do. After all, how many of us make our own noodles?
Restaurant
The museum also features a restaurant that serves different types of noodles from around the world. You can get everything from phở to rigatoni and anything in between.
Admission to the museum is ¥500, or about US $6.50. It costs a little extra to put together your own cup, make ramen, or grab a bite to eat at the restaurant, but it definitely looks like it’s worth it.
Momofuku Ando
Of course, I can’t talk about Nissin’s newest museum without talking about the company’s founder, Momofuku Ando. Ando was the Thomas Edison of prepackaged dried foods. Born in Taiwan, Ando moved to Japan after World War 2, eventually becoming a Japanese citizen.
Ando started Nissin while perfecting the technology to flash-fry noodles. By flash-frying noodles, he found a way to preserve noodles for people to eat later.
Momofuku Ando: Millionaire, playboy, stand-in Bond villain.
Ando took great pride in his invention. After the war, the Japanese were in desperate need for food. There were famines, and many people literally starved to death in the post-war years. Instant ramen provided an inexpensive and effective way for people to get the calories they needed to live.
But while Ando’s invention was certainly very important after World War 2, what about instant noodles today?
Instant Ramen: Actually Not That Great for You
Turns out instant ramen actually pretty bad for you. There are of course tons of health concerns about instant ramen, everything from its high sodium and fat contents, to being devoid of pretty much every vitamin known to man. And now that Japan’s food supply is much more secure than it was in the Post-War era, instant ramen isn’t as much of a necessity as it used to be.
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Have you been to the Osaka Nissin Museum? Have you gotten a chance to visit the new Yokohama location? Let me know down in the comments!
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