On Nov. 16, the DePauw J-Club hosted their annual Ramen Festival at the Justin and Darrianne Christian Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI). Ramen originated in China with similar noodles dating back to the third century, and over time it developed into lamian, which was known for the Kansui water that was utilized to give the noodles a unique texture. In 1910, the first-ever ramen restaurant, Rai Rai Ken, was opened in Asakusa, Tokyo. Its popularity skyrocketed in Japan, with 3,000 bowls sold in a day! After WWII, the surge of economic growth allowed ramen to become widespread across different regions of Japan. Each region develops its own specialty with different noodle varieties and broth styles.
The delicious and savory aroma of ramen greets the DePauw student body and staff as they entered CDI. Prior to the opening of the event, crowds of students excitedly lined up in anticipation. This year J-Club provided traditional salt, miso, and shoyu or soy sauce broths with a wide selection of toppings such as chashu pork, chicken, bamboo shoots, marinated eggs, green onions and seaweed. The salt broth, green onion and bamboo shoot were specially prepared for students with dietary restrictions.
“The process of preparing the event took a total of nine hours, four hours to make the soy sauce marinated toppings and five hours for the soup base, chashu pork and cutting of vegetables on the day of. I felt great achievement in making the chashu because it is something I would have never done myself due to the laborious process. Ramen is something really meaningful to people of Japan. Thank you so much for coming to our event!”, shared J-Club co-president Sakura Kusano ‘27.
Student leader Ten Kawanishi ‘29 reflected, “it was super fun working with 70 pounds of meat to make chashu. It was rewarding to serve and watch people enjoy our food. We wanted to share a taste of Japan with the student body during the cold winter. At the event, my favorite flavor of ramen was the miso ramen, but overall my favorite is the iekei ramen. J-Club is always looking to extend beyond the Japanese community! Please join us!”
This was definitely another amazing Ramen Festival to be remembered for years to come!
AloJapan.com