Most societies around the world have rules about table etiquette. For western cultures, noisily consuming food is considered rude. In Japan, however, making slurping sounds while eating has an entirely different meaning.
This might have something to do with the fact that in western countries, noodles are properly consumed by twirling them on a spoon before putting them in the mouth.
Meanwhile, the Japanese simply slurp up their noodles without contorting them first, an act that is naturally noisier than the former. Making slurping sounds when eating noodles in Japan is a way of indicating that you’re really enjoying them.
Some scientists even argue slurping invites air into the palate and actually enhances the noodles’ flavor. Few foods in Japan are more popular than noodles, a favorite among natives and tourists alike.
After all, what’s not to like about a delicious, quick, and inexpensive meal of soba (buckwheat noodles), udon (thick wheat noodles), or ramen?
Yet last year, the noodle briefly emerged as a focus of heated debate when an anonymous Japanese tweeter began holding forth on the subject of “noodle harassment.”
The gist of the rant was that the Japanesspilled over into the custom of slurping one’s noodles is not merely offensive to foreigners but actually qualifies as a form of harassment nū-hara for short.
The comments were widely retweeted, and the topic of mainstream media, eliciting passionate responses pro and con. Cooler heads eventually prevailed, as it became clear that the original tweeter had fabricated a controversy more or less out of thin air.
Still, there is no denying that noodle slurping is a distinctively Japanese custom that tends to provoke reactions ranging from amusement to disgust among foreigners exposed to it for the first time.
After all, noodles of various types, from spaghetti to lo mein, are consumed the world over, but slurping is sanctioned almost nowhere outside of Japan.
