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strand = noodle?

karoshi_Japan

Senior Member
Hungarian, Frisia
Hi,

The following is extracted from an article whose theme is "ramen".

"Customized strands and slow–simmered broths ensure that these are as satisfying and slurp–worthy as their Japanese originals."
What does "customized strands" mean? I'm not sure, but I think "strands" mean noodle in ramen, and "customized" means you can adjust noodles' hardness and thickness by yourself.
Please let me know your opinion.

Thank you in advance.
A "strand" means one single thing. It is used about long, thin things like spaghetti or ramen noodles.

A bowl of noodles may have 40 or 50 individual strands. If you want, you could separate one single piece of spaghetti from the whole plate of noodles. It would be very thin, and 30 cm long. That is one strand.

"Strand" is also used about hair. A single hair is "one strand of hair". But most people have thousands of strands of hair on their head.
Notice that it occurs in a newspaper review of a restaurant. This sort of writing is often the first cousin of advertising talk.
We do call a single 'stick' or strip of noodles or spaghetti a 'strand', I suppose, but how often do we need to talk about one strand. Referring to a bowlful as 'strands' strikes me as strange. Perhaps the author is trying to avoid using 'rahmen' again, in a mistaken notion of style. After all, we are also gifted with the word 'slurpfuls'.
Notice that it occurs in a newspaper review of a restaurant. This sort of writing is often the first cousin of advertising talk.
We do call a single 'stick' or strip of noodles or spaghetti a 'strand', I suppose, but how often do we need to talk about one strand. Referring to a bowlful as 'strands' strikes me as strange. Perhaps the author is trying to avoid using 'rahmen' again, in a mistaken notion of style. After all, we are also gifted with the word 'slurpfuls'.
HG, I linked to the source above. It's a book for children, not a restaurant review, so 'slurpfuls' is more than warranted.👁 Smile :)


As for 'strand' I agree with you one hundred per cent, as I said above. I have no idea why anybody would refer to a noodle as a strand and as for uno spaghetto, Julian, in Italian that means (informally) a dish of spaghetti, served with (whatever) sauce on it. I really don't think we ever talk about 'one spaghetto'.
HG, I linked to the source above. It's a book for children, not a restaurant review, so 'slurpfuls' is more than warranted.👁 Smile :)


As for 'strand' I agree with you one hundred per cent, as I said above. I have no idea why anybody would refer to a noodle as a strand and as for uno spaghetto, Julian, in Italian that means (informally) a dish of spaghetti, served with (whatever) sauce on it. I really don't think we ever talk about 'one spaghetto'.
Indeed - referring to a single one of these things, no matter what name we give it, is rather unusual 👁 Smile :)
Hi London
Thanks for that link! I'm referring to a quote from Time Out on that site. It might not be a restaurant review: perhaps it's a brand review. The situation/context is far too complicated for me to grasp overall so I'm focusing only on the language aspect.

"The noodle soups have come a long way since they were merely thought of as a poor college student staple. Customized strands and slow-simmered broths ensure that these are as satisfying and slurp-worthy as their Japanese originals. Get ready to tuck into belly-warming bowls of the best ramen in America."
- Time Out
Perhaps one has to read everything about it in minute detail to understand what 'customized' means.
Customized is an odd word choice but surely means noodles with varying (and more creative and tastier) recipes than those that go into that generic package of ramen noodles you can buy at five for a dollar.
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