Past Forward JUNE 21-27, 2015

22 past forward JUNE 21-27, 2015 :: Vikram Doctor n Sunday, March 7, 1954, The Times of In his book India (ToI) carried a long article on man- The Untold made rice in Japan. It wrote about the History of acute shortage of rice in a nation still re- Ramen the covering from World War II and more historian Orecent disasters, like two typhoons that George Solt had ravaged its rice growing areas: writes of how ramen has “Against the average annual rice crop of often been 9,700,000 tons, only 8,022,000 tons appropriated were harvested.” by belligerent In its years of overseas expansion Ja- right-wing pan simply diverted rice from its colo- nationalists nies in Korea and China. But that option as a symbol was no longer available — imports now of Japan had to be paid for at a high cost. Yet the end of the war meant that more had to be fed, since the Japanese who had been India too, at least until the recent Maggi fighting for or running the Empire had debacle — the answer would be noodles. now come home. A desperately hungry The Rise A Japanese entrepreneur named Mo- country was looking for solutions and mofuku Ando would claim this insight one seemed to be wheat made into rice- for himself. Much of what Ando claimed shaped pellets, like the small Italian about his early life, including his name pasta called orzo. and nationality, is less than reliable — he It was an odd article for ToI to feature was probably Taiwanese and named Wu so prominently, but perhaps there was a of Ramen Bai-fu. But Ando’s life offers ample proof local resonance. India knew that its pop- In just over a century, noodles have been that reality is what you make of it, and ulation was rising beyond its ability to this can be seen in his decision to move to feed it and in the future, foods like man- able to achieve a dominating presence in Japan in the 1930s and remake himself, made rice might be needed. But in fact Japan and the world — and despite the as a fully Japanese businessman, and also the solution would be something more in his response to a bureaucrat he met in familiar. In Japan — and to some extent in current reversal in India, don’t write them off the post-war years, who was wondering how to get the Japanese to eat more wheat. The wheat was American, supplied by the US as supposedly generous food aid, much as it would send wheat to a starving India in the 1960s under the PL-480 scheme. That wheat led to a rise in bread consumption in India, and in Japan too at that time the Japanese were being pushed to eat more bread. In his memoirs Ando wrote that he told the bureaucrat this was wrong. ‘“With bread,” I told him, “you need toppings or side dishes, so you’re asking people to west- ernize their diets… So why not promote Japanese entrepreneur noodles, which Japanese people already Momofuku Ando enjoy, as a flour-based food?” Twists of Noodles As that anecdote shows, the Japanese were familiar with noodles, but not made from wheat. Buckwheat grew more easily in its mountainous interiors (as it does in the Himalayas, where it’s called kuttu) and noodles made from them, called soba, had long been part of Japanese cuisine. This was cooked in light broths made from dried fish and eaten with vegetables or pickles – quite different from the onion and soy-fla- voured seasonings used in Japanese ra- If noodles had been first a symbol Food aid from the US after World men noodles today. of Japan’s rise to power and then of War II was a key weapon of In his book The Untold History of Ra- resistance to American domination, foreign policy. The Japanese men the historian George Solt writes of in the 1960s, instant noodles government was expected to how ramen has often been appropriat- signalled its growth as a repay the help in part, and also ed by belligerent right-wing nationalists manufacturing power promote American products as a symbol of Japan. But even they past forward 23 JUNE 21-27, 2015 Traditionalists in Japan With the war turning against them, the Japa- nese government started rationing food, as well as India cutting down on imported wheat. One ef- bemoaned how instant fect of this was to make ramen a symbol of foods (like 2-minute the past good times, something to long for noodles) took women as people ate grass and rats to survive. out of the kitchen Ramen Returns Ramen didn’t return immediately with the end of World War II. The US, which was in charge of Japan, was in no mood to be generous to its past enemy and there was also Eu- rope to be supplied. Racist beliefs about how ‘Orientals’ required fewer calories provided A widely televised a justification to keep Japan starved – until encouraged by Americans who saw in them the Americans were abruptly woken up by the entrepreneurs who would help keep Ja- hostage taking by the success of the Communists in China, and pan from turning Communist. Ando was extreme leftists their threat to expand their struggle across possibly one of them; he was certainly a sur- ironically turned into Asia. Food aid was no longer charity but a vivor. During and after the war he went to key weapon of foreign policy. Wheat started jail, but he would later write that the horri- great promotion for cup flowing from the US to Japan — and Solt notes ble meals served there made him realise the noodles, with the police that, contrary to American propaganda, it value of food. “I was able to eat the prison (and the hostage takers) was no free gift. The Japanese government food… In order to survive, humans must be was expected to repay the help, if not all di- able to change their thinking,” he would shown eating them rectly, then by promoting American prod- write. Perhaps this is why, once released, he would concede that the dish’s origins are ucts. Getting the Japanese to eat products started developing businesses based on Chinese – but, they say, refined and taken to made by American companies was particu- waste products — dried fish, protein extract- the way he browbeat competitors into work- its highest level by Japanese genius. This larly effective, especially when ed from animal bones, even ing with him. “Nissin Foods persuaded the change can be seen in its name which, in its schools became the focus for This frogs at one point. executives of Tomei Shoko, as well as nine earliest years, was Shina soba, or Chinese promotions. It got children other instant noodle manufacturers, to form noodles; with an increasingly expansionist hooked on the produce while working The ‘Tastemaker’ a producers conglomeration and share the Japan looking down on China, that term was enabling marketers to claim man’s dish This experience with animal patent, and in some cases, equipment as seen as offensive, and was replaced by the they were doing this for their reached products would help when he well,” writes Solt. In this Ando seems to have more purely Japanese ‘ramen’. nutritional benefit, a tactic we developed instant noodles, the had the backing of the powerful Ministry of It was an early indication of the politics of have seen in India. gourmet product that made him fa- Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, whose noodles. The meaning of noodles has proven In this context Ando’s in- status in mous. It is where the flavour- bureaucrats pushed companies to work to- to be endlessly adaptable. As Solt writes: “It sight that Japanese would pre- special ing came from, but Ando gether, rather than compete, and build Ja- can be a marker of cultural loss (wheat over fer wheat as noodles didn’t claimed to have developed the pan’s economic power. rice) and preservation (noodles over bread), just make food sense — he ramen deep-frying and drying pro- If noodles had been first a symbol of Ja- labor (lunch for construction workers) and could claim it as a sign of Japa- restaurants cess which made the noodles pan’s rise to power and then of regeneration leisure (late-night carbohydrates after drink- nese resistance to American and films instant after days spent in a and resistance to American domination, in ing), derivativeness (Chinese influence) and domination. As Solt notes this like the cult shack (which Nissin Food the 1960s, instant noodles signalled its inventiveness ( Japanese curry ramen), was disingenuous since “the Products, the company he growth as a manufacturing power and con- speed (instant noodles) and slowness (artisa- main ingredient for the food hit Tampopo started, would lovingly pre- sumerist society. Led by Ando, noodle com- nal soup).” We should not be surprised that was American wheat, and its (1985) serve in a museum). Even here panies benefited from differing events. these battles are playing out in India today. large-scale import was detri- his claims are suspect — Solt Earthquakes and typhoons were met with In those early years noodles were a sym- mental to Japanese rice farm- writes that another company instant noodles for the survivors. A widely bol of workers building the rapidly changing ers.” But demand for noo- called Matsuda Sangyo re- televised hostage taking by extreme leftists in nation. The Meiji Restoration of 1868 had dles was widespread, as leased a similar product the depths of winter ironically turned into seen the Japanese emperor ending centuries was the means to sup- earlier, and a compa- great promotion for cup noodles — it was too of isolation and committing the country to ply it.

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