Good Dorm Eating: Ramen Noodle Quiz

Noodles themselves got their start in China (though Italy would like to claim differently). But, the ramen concept of noodles broth with meat and veggies hails from Japan.

You can buy ramen for as little as $1.25 to $1.33 a package. However, that package isn't just one serving; rather, it's 6 3-ounce packages of ramen noodles, which basically costs less than .23 per meal.

Kikoman is famous for their soy sauce as well as other Asian food products, but it was Nissin Foods that developed the instant ramen. Maruchan started manufacturing ramen in the U.S. in 1978.

Though we originally think of ramen as part of a meal or maybe in an appetizer, there are ramen recipes for dessert! Banana pudding, chocolate ramen krispies, and many other kinds of treats can be whipped up using ramen noodles.

If you can think of it, you can probably use ramen noodles to make it. Whether you make soup, per the instructions on the package or use your own recipe to include ramen, you have lots of meal options. You can also eat the noodles as a crunchy snack.

Ramen was originally called lamen, but was changed with time. It wasn't a big stretch because there is no distinction between the letters r and l in Japanese. However, ramen/lamen also came indirectly from the Chinese phrase, "la mian" meaning "pull noodle" because Chinese noodles were made by pulling them. This is also where the word "mein" in lo mein and chow mein originates.

Going back to the fact that you can buy six servings of instant ramen for about $1.25, and you only need 21 servings a week, for $5.00, you can have 24 servings!

Much as how language differs in different regions of a country, the ramen recipe and "secret ingredient" vary depending on what part of Japan you find yourself in.

The number is in the billions, over 85 billion if you're counting.

The price of the meal and the calories in the meal were what made ramen soar in popularity. The United States provided flour, which helped keep the demand up and the cost down.

You can get 36 ounces, or 6 servings, of ramen noodles for about $1.25, versus $2.75 for 26 ounces of mashed potatoes. There's a larger range of meals you can make with the ramen as well, so they're cheap and versatile!

If you find yourself drinking a little more water after a ramen meal, it's because of the sodium. The Maruchan brand of chicken and beef instant noodles contain about 32 percent of a person's daily requirement of sodium.

In 1983, only 5 years after Maruchan began manufacturing in the U.S., they were named the official soup of the 1984 Summer Olympics, held in Los Angeles.

Tonkotsu ramen is a pork-based soup and is milky white in color. Shoyu ramen uses the soy sauce base, and miso ramen -- well, you can guess what makes up its substance.

A favorite side dish is gyoza, or pan fried dumplings, served with a soy and vinegar mixed sauce.

A ramen ya is your local ramen noodle shop or restaurant. Next time you're traveling to a new city on a budget, type "ramen ya" into your search engine, and you'll find lots of cheap eats.

While ramen is not high in calories, it's also not high in health and nutritional benefits. But, it's easy to change that by adding vegetables or eggs to the concoction. Try broccoli, spinach, cabbage, carrots or peas. As for the eggs, add a hardboiled one or poach it while cooking the noodles in the same pot.

The dish is Japanese because it was first prepared in Japan, but Chinese cooks in a Tokyo restaurant first served up the soup and noodles. For this reason, ramen was first called shina soba, with "shina" as the word for China.

College students everywhere can thank Mr. Ando, businessman and founder of Nissin Foods, for instant ramen. He knew a great idea when he tasted one.

Japan and China, though originally on friendly terms, battled with each other over land and culture. During World War II, Japan killed nearly 20 million Chinese and to eat "shina soba" meant "to gobble up your enemies." After the war, the "shina" name became an ugly, ethnic slur and represented an embarrassing part of Japanese history, so it was dropped.