- Created By James
The Lounge Update
This seems to be an important/relevant question for many anime fans. I personally never understood the Ramen phenomenon, though - perhaps someone can explain it to me.
I assume that the Ramen brands people are talking about are essentially dried noodles that are put in water and heated, with a little sachet of flavouring?
I have often wondered whether most people genuinely liked this type of food before becoming a fan of anime, or whether noodles/ramen have sort of achieved a kind of status because of their obviously asian origin. This question interests me greatly because both Ramen and other Japanese snacks seem to have achieved a powerful cult status within the anime community.
As for me, I must admit, I'm not a big fan of packet/instant noodles. If I were to eat noodles, I'd probably prefer to actually visit a restaurant and have a proper noodle soup (especially one with chicken, pork and vegetables - there's a place near my house that does amazing Japanese soups).
And if I ever have a dish like that, I tend to always have udon noodles, as these are my favourite.
For those of you who actually eat cooked noodle/soup dishes, do you have a favourite noodle type that you always choose? Am I using the wrong word - should I say "ramen" instead of "noodle"? I don't know. I only know that "ramen" is not commonly used in Australia, even by the Japanese themselves! 
Also, another related question: other than noodles/ramen, what is your favourite Japanese-style snack?
A work colleague brought these funny things into the office the other day; they were basically like pretzel sticks with spicy tomato flavouring. They were certainly unique and very tasty.
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