Here in the UK winter hasn’t quite faded away and there’s a battle of the season. Is it going to be spring today, or will I need my coat? The indecisive weather can lead to confusing time in the world of food and it has me reminiscing about Oden.
Oden (おでん) is a popular winter dish in Japan that is often sold at the many convenience stores (コンビニ) around the country. However, I sadly live in a village in the North of England, so when the cold is here and the cravings hit for a delicious, warm, comfort food, Oden is sadly nowhere to be found. So I was very excited to find a can of Oden for sale online!
Featuring all the Oden staples of radish (大根 daikon), eggs (in this case, small quail eggs), konjac (こんにゃく), fishcakes (竹輪 chikuwa), meat (牛すじ gyuusuji) and noodles. It was a perfectly mini-sized traditional Oden I could enjoy at home!
いただきます !
FUN KANJI;
缶 meaning can, or tin (for food) is simply pronounced かん/kan
Baby Star Ramen is a 60-year-old dagashi snack from Japan with humble beginnings as being a byproduct from the instant cup noodle industry.
Baby Star Yakisoba
Created by Oyatsu Company in 1959, the idea for Baby Star was formed when employees noticed the number of small, and unusable broken noodle pieces during the manufacturing of Chicken Instant Ramen and instead of allowing this food to become waste, they used it as a snack for internal use. The snack was a huge hit with employees as being a “re-born” food as well as a noodle based snack that could be eaten without cutlery or utensils. This eventually led to the sale of Baby Star Ramen to Japan’s general public.
Being a dagashi gave Baby Star Ramen a core audience of children and so their packaging was designed with them in mind, using colourful designs and introducing a mascot named “Baby” to help encourage sales. In 1988 the mascot was changed to “Bei-chan”, who would often dress in different costumes on the packaging where different flavours were used, to show the cultural diversity of taste influences. Bei-chan remained the star mascot of Baby Star Ramen for 29 years until a recent 2017 rebrand brought in “Hoshio-kun”, a new and ‘hip’ mascot to update the long-lasting snack into current times.
Baby Star Yakisoba
Baby Star Ramen holds a special place in my heart as being one of the first dagashi I ever ate. I was sent a packet of the original chicken flavour ramen as a gift from my penpal back in 2004, and I have fond memories of snacking on it during a walk home from school as treat for sitting some intense GCSE exams.
It’s rich, flavourful and crunchy noodles will always bring a smile to my face and a sensation of 懐かしい. This snack shaped my love and appreciation for Japanese snacks, and without them, this blog may never have begun!
Have you tried Baby Star Ramen? If so, what is your favourite flavour?
Jo's corner 