Originally Posted by
Starwood Lurker
Yes, well except for the plastic packet version, that is.
Ramen come in both bowl and plastic packet versions at U.S. supermarkets as well.
In Asia, particularly in Taiwan, the bowl version tends to be more expensive, and sometimes more "luxurious", than the plastic packet one.
Originally Posted by
Tat0nka
it's an assumption of innocent ignorance. by and large, the majority of the population couldn't tell you the difference between ramen, soba and udon - and, probably, collectively calls all asian noodles "ramen".
add to the fact that many of us in the states have grown up eating "Top Ramen" at some point or another and Ramen has kind of become an accepted term for asian style noodles.
I would think so that ramen acts like an umbrella/blanket term for Americans for a variety of Asian style noodles.
When I first came to the States for study, I had to look up the dictionary and asked around what Americans meant for "ramen." Americans' ramen is different from what I know about Asia noodles, including Cantonese, Chinese, Japanese & Taiwanese styles, that I grow up with.