Ramen Lives Matter

I’m tired of ramen getting a bad rep. Everyone thinks that we can’t be like caviar, or that we can’t be the most glamorous meal out there. It’s disappointing that whenever someone looks at ramen, they automatically assume that a college student on a low-budget is eating it; they assume we are a food made for poor people. Also, our native Japanese culture has disappeared as America has created “instant ramen.” Apparently, eating too much of us can cause disease. According to many, we are a poor among the rich variety of foods that exist today. Have you ever seen ramen as a gourmet food or portrayed as something to be appreciated? No.

Everyone thinks of this when ramen is mentioned:

Although, we can look like this:

We need to be metacognitive and recognize that the way we think about ramen is messed up. That last picture is probably surprising because you’ve never seen gourmet ramen in your life before. How strange is it that such a main food is not usually seen on the cover of major food magazines? All that people see is the most delicate Italian pasta or the perfect salad. Imagine how that makes all of the little ramen feel. They grow up with no hope because they have never seen anyone that looks like them ascend to food stardom. Many of my friends “believed that they were ugly”(38) or that they weren’t good enough. This is a sad reality of the way life works and it needs to be changed. We must realize that ramen can be appreciated for its value, ramen can be powerful, and ramen must be listened to if we do not wish to alienate a large member of food society.