As one of the "giants" of street food in China, Lanzhou Ramen has always been well-known in China and is often found in various noodle restaurants.
Confusingly, however, despite the growing popularity of Lanzhou ramen, the number of people who enjoy the dish is gradually decreasing, and some restaurants have even been forced to close due to the lack of customers. So why is the once-household name of Lanzhou ramen becoming less and less popular?There are four reasons for this.
Lanzhou ramen does not come from "Lanzhou".
You may not believe it, but in fact, the so-called "Lanzhou ramen" we see in the market is not really authentic Lanzhou ramen, but should be called "Qinghai ramen". Many people are puzzled by why the Lanzhou ramen shops, run by Hui compatriots, are not recognized as authentic
There is actually no dish called "Lanzhou ramen" in the cuisine of the Lanzhou region. The ramen they know is "Lanzhou Beef Noodles", and although the names of the two noodles are only a few words apart, they are completely different in taste and preparation methods. Even most Lanzhou locals don't recognize the term "Lanzhou ramen".
Some people even joke on the Internet that if you tell the locals in Lanzhou that you want to eat a bowl of authentic Lanzhou ramen and ask them to recommend a ramen shop, then you will lose a Lanzhou friend.
Although this sentence has some ironic meaning, to a certain extent, it also reflects the disgust of Lanzhou people for the title "Lanzhou ramen", and it can even be said that "Lanzhou ramen" is definitely one of the most sensitive issues in the hearts of Lanzhou people and even the entire Gansu people.
Lanzhou ramen originated from Lanzhou beef noodles and was created by Chen Weijing, a native of Tsinghua in Henan during the Qing Dynasty. Chen Weijing is proficient in various dietary supplements and dietary therapy knowledge and cooking skills, so he is respected as the "Huaiqing Food Saint". By chance, he taught the production skills of beef noodles in his hometown to Ma Liuqi, a classmate in Gansu.
After learning about this method of production, Ma Liuqi returned to his hometown and began to run his own shop meticulously, and gradually gained a reputation in the local area. After a long period of inheritance and refinement, this noodle became what we know now. Therefore, in the Gansu region, locals usually refer to this type of noodle as "beef noodles" instead of "Lanzhou ramen".
Lanzhou ramen, which is common in the mainland, was founded by Ma Guifu, a Hui who was born in Hualong County, Qinghai. At that time, Ma Guifu was working alone in Xiamen, Fujian Province, and the changes in his surroundings and diet made him feel very difficult to adapt to for a long time.
Because of the eating habits and Hui religious practices he has developed over the years, he has suffered a lot of restrictions when eating. Even locally, he struggled to find some cheap halal meals. Therefore, for a long time, Ma Guifu could only buy some simple vegetarian dishes to fill his stomach. Over time, he suddenly had the idea of opening a halal restaurant in the local area.
He immediately used his savings to open a simple shop in the local area, knowing that there must be many Hui compatriots from other places like him, and he wanted to make money by running a noodle restaurant with a relatively small investment.
He originally planned to name the restaurant "Hualong Ramen", but at that time, the conditions were backward and the dissemination of information was limited, and many people were not familiar with the place. So Ma Guifu came up with an idea, and he decided to name his restaurant after Lanzhou, a representative city in the northwest.
Sure enough, once the hotel was named "Lanzhou", Ma Guifu's business quickly flourished. He quickly built a solid foundation in the local area. As the business became more and more prosperous, Ma Guifu's relatives and friends came to learn from him, and after completing his studies, he actively opened branches in other cities.
Lanzhou ramen quickly took root in major cities, and can be found in almost all areas where Hui people live. Many diners also love this Qinghai-originated delicacy, however, this situation has caused dissatisfaction among the real Lanzhou people, who believe that this is not the real "Lanzhou ramen", but just a dead end.
Therefore, Lanzhou people have been striving to establish a good reputation for their products for a long time, and they have even spared no effort to clarify through various ** and registered an exclusive trademark, hoping that authentic Lanzhou beef noodles can jump out of their hometown. Because of this, when many people learn that the "Lanzhou ramen" they eat is actually "Qinghai ramen", they will feel deceived and look away.
The price does not match the price.
A bowl of Lanzhou ramen is enough to keep a cow busy for a lifetime. "Lanzhou Ramen Restaurant has been selling beef noodles for a whole year, and the cow has barely suffered a slight injury."
Type "Lanzhou ramen" into a search engine and you'll find that there are always similar complaints in the comments, and although this statement may be a slight exaggeration, it is undeniable that the beef in Lanzhou ramen is indeed quite small, and there is very little beef in a bowl of meat noodles for more than ten yuan, and even the seasoning on the noodles is quite economical, not to mention the portion that is not enough to fill the girl.
Usually, the operators of such noodle restaurants do not openly recruit waiters, but the husband is responsible for making the noodles and the wife is responsible for providing the service. In the case of a shortage of manpower, they may ask the children of the family to help. For a long time, this practice has led to uneven service quality, and the level of service experienced by customers depends on the mood of the store that day.
In such an extremely uncertain situation, many customers may encounter some unpleasant things during their meal. In addition, the competition in the restaurant industry is becoming more and more fierce, and the food culture has become more diverse and rich, and many noodle restaurants and restaurants have begun to implement the strategy of "adding noodles" or "adding rice" for free in order to retain customers.
Lanzhou Ramen has always stuck to its business philosophy, so it's no surprise that some customers choose to go to other noodle restaurants and drift away from old friends. Over time, this sticking to principles has led some customers to choose elsewhere.
The relationship between technology and "hard work".
What should an authentic bowl of beef noodles look like?According to the Lanzhou people, "one clear, two white, three red, four green and five yellow", in which the thickness of the noodles is also one of the criteria for judging the quality of beef noodles.
Under the skills of the ramen master repeatedly kneading, falling, and pulling, the noodles are made with uniform thickness and excellent toughness. The noodles are then freshly cooked, topped with a secret broth and sprinkled with condiments to create a bowl of clear soup and a bright yellow complexion, and the result is a mouth-watering beef noodle look.
While customers feast on food, few people wonder why the noodles are so strong. Until a report revealed the mystery of this kind of noodles, but it also brought a serious blow to Lanzhou ramen and other noodle restaurants. The rich aroma and springy taste almost satisfy the taste buds of customers.
Around March 15, 2013, some posts appeared on the Internet about the reason for the strength of Lanzhou ramen noodles. According to the post, "The reason why the noodles are strong is because the owner of the ramen shop adds a ramen agent to make the noodles, and the main ingredient of the ramen agent is puffy ash, which contains a lot of arsenic, a carcinogen. If the ramen noodle solution is poured into a paper cup, a terrible corrosion phenomenon occurs. ”
This kind of ash actually refers to the ashes left after the burning of the grass, which can also be called grass ash, and has been used as a food additive for a long time. Adding ramen noodles to improve the taste has been around for over 100 years.
However, it contains a large amount of heavy metals, which can cause serious harm to the body if ingested in excess. However, the mere ingestion of food ash is not harmful to the human body.
In order to verify whether Lanzhou ramen uses puffy ash, reporters from the People's ** "Verification" column went to many regions to conduct special investigations. The results showed that Lanzhou ramen did add fluffy ash during the production process, according to the ramen chef
Noodles of various thicknesses and shapes cannot be pulled out without puff ash, and when cooked, the soup will become cloudy and the texture will not be elastic enough.
When making Lanzhou ramen, it is necessary to carry out the operation of "three times of water, three times of ash, and nine times eight times and one time", in which the ash refers to "puffy ash", and almost all ramen shops use this ingredient in the production process.
Although a follow-up investigation showed that the additives used in these ramen shops were in line with national standards and caused negligible harm to the human body, the operation of Lanzhou ramen shops was still affected, and some young people avoided it.
Stale clichés.
The unpopularity of Lanzhou ramen is not limited to the above three points, but also due to their lack of innovation. If you look at the Lanzhou ramen restaurants everywhere, you will find that no matter which city you are in, the ramen tastes the same, because everyone's craftsmanship basically comes from the same place.
Lanzhou ramen shops sell fewer types of ramen, which are not much different from other regions, and it is clear that what attracts young people more than the ramen that has remained unchanged for decades is the variety of new foods such as fried chicken, skewers of incense, spicy tang and bubble chicken.
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It is worth emphasizing that although Lanzhou ramen is gradually losing its former glory, this does not mean that ramen as a food category is about to disappear. On the contrary, there have been many booming ramen restaurants in recent years, which shows that people are not tired of eating ramen anymore, but are tired of Lanzhou ramen that has been the same for decades.
It is hoped that Lanzhou Ramen will finally be able to reform in a unique way, find its own development path, and return to its former glory.