Few people who have been to Korea or watched much Korean content are unfamiliar with the instant noodle known as ramyeon. It comes in different brands, and many have their own particular preferences when it comes to eating it. For some it’s adding an egg and/or cheese, others tend to add less or more water when preparing it, while some consume it raw as a snack. While ramyeon is usually spicy, this varies on the brand and how much of the spicy powder one adds to the ramyeon.

There is also cup ramyeon that is very convenient and takes very little time to prepare. Many in Korea consume them in convenient stores, especially young people. They are cheap and can be quite filling making them a tempting alternative to the more expensive restaurants.

But like many fast food, its appeal spans different generations, social classes, and now increasingly different nationalities. According to The Korea Times, exports in 2024 exceeded the $1-billion mark, a 30 percent increase on 2023 with some of the leading export destinations including countries such as the US, China, UK and Japan.

A publisher in the UK will also release an English translation of the Korean essay by Yoon I-na titled “Ramen: I am going to Boil Some Water Now” (translated title). It will hit the shelves next year in what is a further sign of the growing popularity of Ramyeon in the UK with it being sold in shops in London and in supermarkets around Britain.

This has, of course, correlated with the rise of the Korean wave known as Hallyu. In both films and dramas, it’s common for characters to eat ramyeon in what many Korean viewers can identify with – sometimes it might be because of a lack of time, or perhaps it’s because people have a craving for it. People have different reasons for eating it, which also goes someway to explaining its enduring appeal. But it’s also tied to Korea’s history, it was introduced into the Korean market in 1963 by Samyang Roundsquare Co when there was a rice production shortage as the population was rapidly increasing. It was an affordable alternative to the rice-based meals.

In Korean films, many feature scenes involving ramyeon or the variations of it. Take for instance the Ram-don scenes in Parasite (2019), a combination of Jjapagetti (instant black-bean noodles) and Neoguri (Korean udon noodles) with the more expensive beef steak added. It has social connotations given that it’s the affluent family eating it. Or the scenes in Castaway on the Moon (2009) where a man (Jang Jae-young) stuck on a small island in the Han River in Seoul is being watched by a young woman (Jung Ryeo-won) from her apartment and she orders Jajangmyeon (a popular Chinese Korean noodle) for him. She herself is nibbling at dry (uncooked) ramyeon in her secluded home.

Owing to the rise in the global appetite for ramyeon, this week are looking at a number of films that feature it beginning with from One Fine Spring Day (2001). It will then turn to My Teacher, Mr. Kim (2003), Cracked Eggs and Noodles (2005), Castaway on the Moon (2009), My Dear Desperado (2010), The Yellow Sea (2010), Inside Men (2015), My Annoying Brother (2016), Midnight Runners (2017) and Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018).

One Fine Spring Day

One of the earliest examples of a film where ramyeon has played a key role in the narrative is Hur Jin-ho’s melodrama One Fine Spring Day (2001). In the film that follows a radio host, Eun-soo (Lee Young-ae) and sound engineer, Sang-woo (Yoo JI-tae), the pair form a relationship.

As the two become closer, she asks Sang-woo in his car after he drops her off at her home, would you like Ramyeon?  This was interpreted as, “would like to come in and have sex?” It’s a line that’s been used in dramas; from Descendants of the Sun (2016) to Crash Landing on You (2018).

The relationship later comes under strain when she struggles to commit, and they end up breaking up. As Sang-woo tries to deal with the break-up, he finds solace in eating ramyeon on a rainy night. 

Hur Jin-ho would use ramyeon as a motif in his two subsequent films April Snow (2005) and Happiness (2007) with the leads in both films eating the noodle giving the films a name “ramyeon trilogy.” Son Ye-jin’s character in April Snow eats ramyeon to aid her hangover and Hwang Jung-min’s protagonist consumes the noodle in a sanatorium in Happiness (2007).