Ramen for Everyone is a newly released children’s book with a focus on seven-year-old Hiro and his dream of making the perfect bowl of ramen for his dad. The story is written by Patricia Tanumihardja with beautiful illustrations by Shiho Pate.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Atheneum Books for Young Readers in exchange for my honest review. All comments and opinions are my own. This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through the link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.
Patricia Tanumihardja
Patricia Tanumihardja was born in Jakarta, Indonesia and grew up in Singapore before moving to the United States for college. She is now based in Northern Virginia with her family.
As a food writer, Patricia focuses on topics related to food history and culture. Her work has been featured in Edible Seattle, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, Saveur, and more.
Patricia is also the author of The Asian Grandmothers’ Cookbook, Farm to Table Asian Secrets, Asian Pickles at Home, and Instant Pot Asian Pressure Cooker Meals. This is her first picture book.
Shiho Pate
Shiho Pate received her degree in illustration from Savannah College of Art and Design. She worked as an artist for indie gaming studios in New York City for over ten years before illustrating children’s books.
She was born in Hokkaido, Japan, raised in Aichi, and is currently based in Southern California.
Scrawl Books
I first met the author, Patricia, shortly after we moved to the DC area the first time a few years ago.
She had a cooking demo at the Whole Foods in Springfield for The Asian Grandmothers’ Cookbook (another favorite) and made Suan La Tang (Hot and Sour Soup), Wok-Fried Bok Choy, Pad Gkaprow Mu (Thai Basil Pork), and Long-Life Noodles. I was pregnant with Claire at the time.
We have now moved back to the DC area and Patricia was again having an event nearby at Scrawl Books in Reston to celebrate the release of Ramen for Everyone. This time, Claire was able to join me!
Along with reading the book to us, the kids were able to color and assemble their own bowl of ramen and enjoy some cute Ramen for Everyone cookies.
Ramen for Everyone
Ramen for Everyone shares the story of Hiro and his dream of making the perfect bowl of ramen after watching his father every Sunday.
After taking notes, he tries to make it himself, but it doesn’t go quite as smoothly. Through a few missteps, he learns that cooking doesn’t have to go exactly as planned to bring the family together.
With some helpful advice from his father, Hiro is soon able to make his own perfect version of ramen to share with mom, dad, sister, and even the dog.
At the end of the Ramen for Everyone, Patricia shares a little bit of the history behind ramen and a few kitchen rules to stay safe while cooking.
She also has a recipe for Easy Miso Ramen to prepare at home!
Easy Miso Ramen
Claire first tried ramen as a toddler while we were living near DC and was immediately hooked.
That love continued to grow during our years in Torrance and Lomita, Los Angeles surrounded by so many fantastic restaurants.
Now that we are back in the DC area, we get to find new favorite places. In the meantime, she was excited to make her own ramen following the book event.
The recipe for Easy Miso Ramen comes together in only about 30 minutes using store-bought ramen or thin Chinese egg noodles, a seasoned store-bought broth, and miso paste.
An adult sous-chef may be required to assist with the hot stove and cutting the garlic and shallots.
Her favorite parts were grating the ginger, mixing the miso with the seasonings, and peeling the hard-boiled eggs.
After bringing everything together, Claire kept her ramen simple with broth, noodles, green onion, and kamaboko (fish cake).
For her dad, she put together a beautiful, big bowl packed with plenty of noodles, corn, kamaboko, pickled daikon, green onions, pork belly, egg halves, and nori.
Overall, Ramen for Everyone is a beautiful book with a story perfect for young chefs and ramen lovers.
I especially love the scattering of Hiragana (one of the Japanese scripts) throughout the drawings to help learn a few of the related words in Japanese such as Chop (きる), Simmer (にこむ), and Season (あじつけする).
It is recommended for ages 4-8, preschool to 3rd grade. My daughter is at the higher end of this range. She said she liked the pictures, story, and the detailed and easy to follow instructions in the recipe.
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