Slurp! : a social and culinary history of ramen, Japan's favorite noodle soup / / by Barak Kushner.

• Author: Kushner, Barak, 1968-
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (309 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• ISBN: 1283602067; 9786613914514; 9004220984
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: by Barak Kushner.

Ramen, Japan’s noodle soup, is a microcosm of Japan and its historical relations with China. The long evolution of ramen helps us enter the history of cuisine in Japan, charting how food and politics combined as a force within Sino-Japan relations. Cuisine in East Asia plays a significant political role, at times also philosophical, economic, and social. Ramen is a symbol of the relationship between the two major forces in East Asia – what started as a Chinese food product ended up almost 1,000 years later as the emblem of modern Japanese cuisine. This book explains that history – from myths about food in ancient East Asia to the transfer of medieval food technology to Japan, to today’s ramen “popular culture.”