World’s first instant Zen cup noodles is perfect for vegans

After three years of patient devotion, a Japanese venture has created the world’s first instant Zen cup noodles. Created in line with the principles of the Japanese cuisine of shojin ryori, the noodles use no animal products or eggs, thus perfect for vegans.

The soy sauce-flavored ramen, called Zendo, also conforms to the Zen Buddhist cooking style by not using pungent flavors like garlic and onion. Like meat, they were also thought to interfere with spiritual practice and therefore forbidden from the traditional diet for Buddhist monks.

Zendo applies techniques of Japanese temple cooking to bring out the flavors of its ingredients. Kombu kelp and vegetables add richness to the soy sauce soup. Traditional processing methods like fermentation and yeast are also used. Soy meat stands in for the real stuff, and vegetables not normally associated with ramen – bok choy, carrot and pumpkin – give it a soft, comforting flavor.

“We want ramen!”

Japanese companies Arnest Inc. and Re-birth Labo made the cup noodles in response to requests from customers who enjoy the existing shojin ryori udon and soba instant noodle dishes, which are made by Re-birth Labo and sold under the product name Gahomen.

The companies plan to continue to develop products based on shojin ryori and hope foreign visitors to Japan and health-conscious consumers will enjoy them.

Shojin ryori spread throughout Japan in the 13th century in line with the growing popularity of Zen Buddhism. The cooking style is based on the Buddhism tradition that forbids the killing of animals for human consumption.

Introducing veganism

Zendo will likely do an excellent job of introducing the concept of Zen cuisine and veganism to instant-noodle fans. The option of just adding boiling water also helps take some of the difficulty out of going vegan. These are good things for sustainability. If the makers can work out how to streamline the plastic packaging, that would be truly enlightenment.