When I got home from class last Thursday, I made some ramen noodles: the "oriental" flavor. My wife asked me how class went so I told her a little bit about it. We also discussed ramen noodles.
Her favorite flavor is chicken and mushroom, but she was disappointed last time she had this flavor because it didn't "taste right" somehow. To this I said, "As far as I'm concerned, they all taste the same. It just tastes like salt."
She replied, "You don't have a refined enough palate." This was funny because it was interwoven with the recap I had been giving of our class discussion.
So lately I've been imagining a world in which ramen noodles are haute cuisine. In this world, world-class chefs are judged by what they can do in that ever-so-subtle realm of salt and bouillon. Artisanal, hand-made noodles are boiled for exactly the right amount of time, to give them an extra slithery texture.
Maybe deep within me is a man capable of distinguishing flavors of ramen noodles, someone who could be worthy of this idealized world. But I haven't had the training, and I haven't been taught to respect the legacy and hierarchy of ramen. Is it too late for me? Can I be redeemed? Could I be brought to the "sweetness and light" of ramen?
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