Ramen

Ramen is a bowl of springy wheat noodles in a seasoned broth, topped with sliced chashu pork, a soft marinated egg, nori, spring onion and bamboo shoots. Styles are defined by their broth and tare seasoning — from the cloudy, collagen-rich tonkotsu of Kyushu to soy-based shoyu, salt-based shio and hearty miso ramen.

Regional and intensely personal, ramen is fast food elevated to obsession.

Ramen arrived from China in the late 19th and early 20th centuries — early on it was even called shina soba, "Chinese noodles" — and was adapted into a distinctly Japanese dish. It boomed as cheap, filling fuel in the hungry years after the Second World War.

The 1958 invention of instant ramen by Momofuku Ando carried it worldwide, while in Japan ramen evolved into a craft with fierce regional rivalries and shops devoted to a single perfected bowl.