ISSUE ONE: RAMEN

Issue one’s theme is Ramen—fitting, as Dave Chang has carved out a worldwide reputation as a
devoted proponent of the stuff. Lucky Peach #1 is chockablock with ramen recipes, but it also raises
questions about the notion of authenticity and broadens the culinary possibilities of instant ramen.

FROM “THINGS WERE EATEN,” PETER MEEHAN

AND DAVE CHANG’S TRAVELOGUE:

Chang pretends like he doesn’t know any Japa-

nese, but that is not entirely true. He was able to
navigate the vending machine system (there was
some English) and ordered himself a miso tsuke-
men, and abura ramen for me. He lost so bad.
Mine was a decent-sized bowl of thick,
chewy noodles—the very picture of yellow
alkaline noodles. They were an eye-opener for me,
because people would kill themselves for these
noodles in New York—so firm, so chewy. I need
to resist the temptation to use words like “better
than any ramen noodle I’ve ever had before” and
just hone in on their thickness, their chewiness,
and how well suited they were to the treatment
they got. They were topped with julienne nori,
a pile of fatty shredded-ish pork, sliced scallions
(which look firmer and more resolutely round and
tubular than the scallions in the states) and a gen-
erous plop of chili-dried scallop-sugar condiment.
The kicker? No broth! It was just “abura”—a
bunch of pork fat on it. It was a version of abura
ramen that I don’t think he had seen before, and I
JAPAN JOURNAL certainly hadn’t. It was so solid from this bullshit
by David Chang & Peter Meehan place in the middle of nowhere. I tried Dave’s and
Illustrations by Lindsay Mound
the shit was anemic. He went back to the vend-
ing machine and ordered a second abura and we
crushed it.
4Lucky
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Then he pulled some Japanese out of his ass
and asked for a carafe of the unseasoned broth.
“He thought I was just some stupid foreigner.
PETER MEEHAN AND DAVE CHANG DOCUMENT THEIR TRAVELS Didn’t see that coming.” We agreed that they
Chang, Meehan, and the Zero Point Zero crew flew all over the world to produce videos for the companion Lucky probably still thought we were stupid foreign-
Peach iPad app. In issue one, they’ll document their trip from Tennessee to San Sebastián to Tokyo.
ers, but that’s a hard point to argue: we are.
 ASSORTED ART FROM ISSUE ONE

HOW TO MAKE RAMEN-FLAVORED POTATO CHIPS BY GABRIELE STABILE AND MARK IBOLD

A COMIC BY MATT VOLZ RAMEN HEROES BY MIKE HOUSTON

CHOPSTICK HUMOR BY DAVID REES