the ramen blog & other goodies!

We recently received this email asking for ramen help.

Meredith wrote:

I hope you can help! My friend has a 16-year-old son who has been diagnosed
with heart failure, he is waiting for a transplant and they expect it will go well. Part of his treatment is that he has to be on a low-sodium diet for the rest of his life. This kid LOVES ramen, he was eating 4 or 5 cups a day at first because the hospital doctors said his sodium was very low. Now it’s normal, and he has to cut back almost entirely. They were willing to give him 1 a week but he’s trying to bargain for more often! I figured I’d help by researching low-sodium ramen. Surely such a thing exists, and I figured you guys would know about it! Is it out there anywhere in the world? I can use Craigslist to recruit somebody to send it to me, wherever it could be found!

Well, Meredith, our hearts go out to your friend and her son! To start with, I was about to post a link to this article, so you’re timing is perfect. The article has tips on how to reduce the sodium in instant ramen. The tip about not using the entire seasoning packet is a quick and easy way to reduce the amount of salt in instant ramen. I’m not sure that “washing” the brick ramen will help much, but “washing” Cup Noodles should help immensely, since the seasoning is already mixed in with the noodles.

I’ve also looked through my pantry, and did some research, and you’re in luck. Nissin has a new Choice Ramen that’s low in fat and sodium. I bought a few packs recently that I haven’t gotten around to review yet, but according to the info on the back, one brick is 2 servings, and each serving has 400mg of sodium (that’s for the beef flavor. The chicken flavor has 480mg). That might still be high for your young friend, but if you cut back on the seasoning packet, that’ll reduce the salt content even more. I bought mine at a local Albertson’s so I imagine they should be pretty easy to find. For something more exotic, it looks likeKorean ramen makers are also getting into the low sodium act.

So now I want to open this up to all our readers. Can anyone else help Meredith out? Are there other low-sodium instant ramen out there? Please post a comment below and help out a worthy ramen fan!

(Also, for anyone who’s concerned about wax in instant ramen (gee, like sodium isn’t bad enough)…don’t worry. It’s a false alarm!)

Mental Floss has some ramen trivia. How much do you know?

Craving ramen in the Bay area? Check out Melanie Wong’s prolific posts on the Bay Area ramen scene

I’m just a sucker for a cute ramen girl.

Speaking of Ramen Girl, meet the “Ramen Boy“.

And to finish off this batch of links…are you ready for the “perfect ramen”? Rameniac gives Ramen Jiro in Tokyo a perfect score! Ramen Tokyo also has an in depth guide.

While economists still debate about whether or not we’re in a recession, the White House claims that we’ve avoided a recession (yay! if it’s coming from the White House, it must be true!). Regardless of who you believe, things are tough all over and most, if not all of you have probably had to make some sacrifices. How are you getting by? Take the poll and tell us what you think in the comments below.

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Love ramen? Check! Wanna be on TV? Check! Live in NYC? Doh! If you’re a ramen fan in New York, Nippon TV wants to interview you!

Instant ramen prices have already gone up in China and Korea. Japanese companies are getting ready for another round of price increase.

Ever seen flaming ramen? You might have to go to Kyoto.

If you’re a student in the Boulder Valley school district in Colorado, you might want to start BYOR (Bringing Your Own Ramen). They’re removing instant ramen from the school lunch menu.

Did you know you could make “hooch” with an instant ramen cup?

Another ramenya has opened in Vancouver, Canada. Motomachi Shokudo Ramen’s cold shoyu ramen sure looks good!

Feeling a bit hungry after that bowl of instant ramen? Maybe it’s because there’s a bit less ramen in that bowl.

Even gourmet chefs like ramen. Here’s a gourmet ramen recipe from 20 year veteran chef chefRob.

If sumo champions recommend a ramenya, it’s gotta be good, right? Sumo great Konishiki and yokozuna (grand champion) Musashimaru both rave about Tenkaippin Ramen in Kapahulu, Hawaii.

Ma Ru Yu’s kurogama (black sesame) ramen: what lurks beneath its murky surface? No less than three brave souls weigh in on this ramen’s darkest (get it? get it?) secrets.

If black sesame ramen isn’t special enough for you, you can make your own buttermilk ramen!

If anyone’s in China for the Olympics next week and finds that special someone, remember to take them out for ice cream, not ramen. Ramen was rated the least popular place to take a date. Least?! Whaa–?!?     (Oops, sorry folks, I’ve had this link since March and it looks like the article is subscriber-only now.)

Garlic ramen at Minca, in New York City. Need I say more?

It seems like Santouka Ramen is everywhere now. Here’s a review of San Diego’s Santouka, and two takes on one in Singapore.

The SF Chronicle has a great guide to cold noodles for a hot summer in the Bay Area (including recipes!).

Heading out to Japan? Arm yourself with the Washington Post’s guide to ramen in Tokyo.