Starting with Pio: Ramyun Story

by Kim Hyung-Sung
March, 2000

A Japanese person invented ramyun for the first time in 1958. Ramyun was introduced to Korea in 1963 by the Samyang company, which was a major manufacturer of ramyun. In those days ramyun contributed to helping Koreans escape the absolute poverty that was prevalent in Korean society. In 1965 the Korean government encouraged people to eat grains other than rice. This government movement was the beginning of Korean people becoming familiar with ramyun.

#1 Sabalmyun

For Koreans, ramyun is more than just a noodle you can make in 5 minutes. There is also another kind of ramyun called "Sabal-myun"(Sabal refers to bowl and myun refers to noodle). With ramyun you needn¡¯t concern yourself with whether or not you have what you need to make it, as you can eat ramyun wherever there is hot water. Inside the chain of CVS convenience stores in Korea, people eat ramyun 24 hours a day.

However, ramyun hasn't always been viewed in a positive manner. Ramyun used to be considered an unhealthy food and was viewed with a lot of negativity. There was even a lawsuit against companies that made ramyun. This lawsuit alleged that the companies used improper material, such as tallow, for frying noodles. With the effort of the ramyun manufacturing companies, and the mania of ramyun, the concept of the noodle has been changed from a negative one to a positive one.

It is difficult to define, in just a couple of words, why Koreans love ramyun. I'd have to say that the love is in the soup. Most ramyun soup is hot and spicy, and this is a taste which Koreans like very much. Actually, eating ramyun with chopsticks, looking through the steam, and putting noodles in the mouth, is sort of a pleasure as well. The noodles are hot. The soup is hot. Everything is hot. Everything should be hot. There is one thing that should also be with ramyun. That one thing is kimchi (especially shin kimchi). Shin kimchi is a sour kimchi that is fermented for a long time. Kimchi is the most famous Korean food in the world. The marriage of ramyun and kimchi is fantastic!!!!

Ramyun is curled. There are many reasons for ramyun being curled. Here are two reasons. First, a curled noodle is much more easily contained in a limited amount of space than a straight one. Secondly, curled noodles, as subjective a point as this is, look more delicious than straight ones.