Tampopo: Training for the Best

Gun and Goro help Tampopo train to prepare the perfect bowl of ramen. 

Itami’s film, Tampopo, focuses on the fusion of Japanese and Western culture, combining various different genres together to create a “Ramen Western”. This scene follows Goro and Gun as they help both train Tampopo and teach her the art of making ramen.

The mis-en-scene and other directorial techniques employed in this film create a connection to Western movie genres, and ultimately the “Ramen Western”. This scene in particular is comparable to Stallone’s Rocky Balboa in that both Rocky and Tampopo are everyday figures – underdogs even – who train intensively for ultimate success. The tasks that Goro and Gun present to Tampopo as training mimic the same training process Rocky went through. However, while Rocky trains to fight in the ring, Tampopo trains to prepare the perfect bowl of ramen. Because Tampopo is presented with such an intensive training plan, the audience gets a feel for the satire of Western culture and movies.

 For instance, Goro and Gun are both costumed in cowboy hats and long-sleeve collared shirts – the stereotypical Western getup, which establishes the influences and ultimate satire of Western culture. The connection to Rocky Balboa is once again brought up as we see Tampopo dressed in track clothing – much like the attire Rocky would wear while training for the boxing ring. Compositionally, the camera switches off between facial close-ups and Tampopo’s hands as she prepares the ramen bowls. The facial close-ups allow the audience to better grasp the intensity and concentration dedicated to the art of ramen. The close-up shots of Tampopo’s hands preparing each ramen bowl intensify the noodle-making process. The intensity and deep concentration – overall exaggerated emotions – shown on the characters’ faces provides the audience with the satire of the West.

Many of the directorial choices made in this scene revolve around the idea of time and urgency. Such intensity of the training scene imitates that in Rocky Balboa and ultimately satirizes Western culture. Much of the scene has been under cranked, speeding up the actions on the screen. While Tampopo portions out ramen noodles to bowls and prepares the soup, the fast motion incites a feeling of chaos and urgency within the home audience. In the screenshot selected, one of the truck men holds a stopwatch, as Tampopo gets ready for her next task. The image of the stopwatch reconfirms and the diegetic sound of the stopwatch’s ticking reconfirms the idea of urgency and time. The ticking gets much louder and faster as faster as the scene progresses, intensifying the moment. Even the transitions between training tasks illustrate the idea of time, as a new scene opens in spiral reminiscent of a clock hand moving around the face. Both classical and marching soundtracks play in the background of the scene, which demonstrates Western impacts upon Japanese culture.

Throughout much of Itami’s Tampopo, Western culture is incorporated into the Japanese culture. Though Itami acknowledges these influences upon Japanese culture, he integrates the West so excessively, providing his own commentary on these influences. The exaggeration allows for the audience to understand more negative aspects of Western influence. Through this film, Itami pushes his audience to contemplate the overall effect of Western influences upon the Japanese culture. 

Exoticism in The Gourmet Club

YoungEun Kim

Mcknight, A.

Japanese 70 – Dis 1C

03 November 2013

Exoticism in The Gourmet Club

The title piece, “The Gouremt Club”, is a describing comprehensively about food in exoticism and the magical creation and general unlimited possibilities. Tanizaki explains the experience of eating food which is “magical” and it is literally felt by all of his senses. The general public use merely their tongues to eat a magical food, but the members of The Gourmet club eat Count G’s special food as taste it with their eyes, their noses, theirs and at times with their skin. At risk of exaggerating, all parts of our body ought to become tongue. The magical food prompts all senses in your body so that your whole body participates in the act of eating to satisfy. The members of the Gourmet Club supply with new ideas for the term of food, and show their concentration, passion and obsession to seek of indulgent and exotic foods.

Court G figures out the magic and pleasure from Chinese cuisine. Yokohama’s Chinatown is one of the biggest Chinatowns in the world; it is also one of the example that in terms of Tanizaki’s exoticism and being thrown into an inner exoticism was complete sensory overload. Tanizaki explains unconventional ingredients, and it creates an amazing flavor However, Chinese people can be already familiar with this Chinese food which doesn’t offer the same sense of pleasure. It’s a similar situation that Count G has gotten so board of Japanese food. Consequently, this sense of exoticism that Count G gets when he eats Chinese food can contribute to the sense of magic. Magical sensations can be caused by tasting new and exotic things.

The Gourmet club has similarities with “Tampopo” which we watched in class. Both of the stories are pretty associated with gourmet boom and exoticism. The member of gourmet club has been willing to travel just for food, they go to Kyoto from Tokyo for a good turtle restaurant. Furthermore, The Gourmet Club is associated with Tampopo, both of them exactly represent their obsession, passion and respect for food like a “gourmet boom”. Tampopo and Goro who is her protector, their research and work hard for the perfect noodles. Zuzo Itami, who is director of Tampopo, creates a scene that makes noodles in this movie more interesting than sex and violence in many others.

This reading also shows that the connection between food and eroticism. This shows the consumption of food as an embodiment of human sexual desires. The author describes the food as “Besides the shelf hung chunks of pork loin and pigs legs with the skin still on. The bristles had been carefully shaved off, and the skin was as soft, white, and luscious as any women’s”. (P.114, The Gourmet Club). Food is used to act out sexual intimacy and the feeding of one’s sexual needs rather than one’s needs for biological nourishment.

In conclusion, Tanizaki’s The Gourmet club transforms an ordinary Chinese food into something magical and exoticism. Court G and his Gourmet Club members show a new way of importance to the term foodie, demonstrate this magical food as food that could generate imaginations and the tale of a food so magically that literally tickles all your senses from exotic foods.

Tampopo – Every Last Drop

1) As her friends in this scene said, Tampopo “has won.”
Every last drop acts as a sign that the ramen is perfect and deeply
appreciated as food and an art form. Thus, in this picture, her friends say Tampopo
“has won.”

Gonzalo Gutierrez

Section 1C, TA: Sun

In Juzo Itami’s 1985 “noodle western” Tampopo, many scenes conjure up images and symbols of the importance and intricacies of the traditional ramen dish. However, the scene that I personally believe is the most important is the scene that spans from the ritualistic test of Tampopo’s ramen being tasted and eaten by her friends to the death of the white-dressed fancy gangster. The interesting and fascinating message behind this scene signifies the triumph of traditional ramen over the dying of exclusive western food that the gangster symbolized.

The scenes themselves are presented and orchestrated in a deliberate manner to symbolize this victory the scene is trying to convey. Firstly, the scene begins with Tampopo’s struggle to satisfy the delicate, precise, and artistic ways of perfecting what seems to be the every-day man’s ramen.  The entire film’s premise seems to counteract the misconception or otherwise unknown knowledge of what it takes to make “the common people’s” traditional ramen. Popularly known as being a populist and comforting food, ramen is widely believed to be a mundane dish that is not of the caliber of western delicacies or highly exclusive Japanese cuisine. However, this is hardly the case as the film sets out to prove that traditional ramen can be just as, if not more of an art form in its preparation, appreciation, and cultural value and significance to the Japanese population than the highly exclusive Western food that appears in the film represented as  the white-dressed gangster and the French restaurant.  From the scene onwards, one can see the manner in which all of the methods Tampopo employs to serve and prepare the ramen to the way it is eaten and appreciated by her friends (customers) that ramen is considered a customary practice in Japan that takes years of dedication and effort to perfect. Therefore, traditional food cannot be dismissed from any culture meaning that it is equal in value to any other form of exclusive and expensive cuisine the world has to offer. In other words, it can symbolize Japan’s contribution as an equal competitor to global cuisine as an art form that stems from its traditional background to represent their country’s appreciation and pride for what they have done to retain customary and mundane food. Additionally, the scene progresses to the destruction of Tampopo’s old ramen stand to a newly renovated and decorated restaurant she and her friends manage to make, shedding light to support the claim that Japanese ramen is meant to be a delicacy equal to French cuisine by being similarly prepared by a properly uniformed chef and a well- prepared kitchen, atmosphere, and environment.

Finally, the white-dressed gangster’s death in some sense represents the triumph of ramen over western delicacies as the food of choice and symbol of Japanese culture and people as well as the acceptance and embrace of ramen as true Japanese comfort/populist food over pretentious Western food. It can possibly be interpreted that ramen could have shot the gangster, otherwise represented as Western food, to symbolize this victory. Hence, to me this scene specifically and intricately pinpoints the film’s message in one conclusive timeframe that traditional food can have the pliability to be served as a delicacy and be appreciated just as much.

Suppon: Tampopo and the idea of the American Dream.

One hour into Tampopo and we are witness to this scene where we see gathered together all of the main characters that have been present with us up to this point. A rainbow of personalities, backgrounds and age groups are present as we are about to witness the preparation of a culinary meal being prepared by the chef. We have the wealthy elderly man and his materialistic younger wife. Next, we also have the older homeless chef master who is an associate of Goro. While finishing it up we have the presence of the films three main protagonists: Tampopo, Goro, and Gun. It is the presence of all of these individuals together that gives the impression that from here on forward the dream of a great Tampopo ramen shop can become a reality. Now they have all of the culinary experts at their disposal in order to actually make ramen that will cause people to queue in line for it.

From the beginning this gathering can be seen as a the moment when Tampopo’s dream start to become a reality. Here we see the actual goal that tampopo is striving to become. That is to be a great cook that can create a great meal experience to her patrons. We can see this in the care that the chef has taken in acquiring the turtle that he is about to make. Suppon, as the dish that is being prepared is called, is known as a gourmet food that also provides various health benefits to the people who consume it. It is a dish that require both high quality materials (the turtle), and also a good cook who can bring together all of these ingredients. One must first take great care in dealing with this dish as it can only be prepared in a certain way in order for it to come out correctly. The elder rich man explains to Tanpopo that the turtle has to be drained of blood in a certain way in order for it to be good enough for this dish. It is like this old man is advising Tampopo on how to obtain that which she is striving for. We can see some of this lack of knowledge on the part of Tampopo as she nearly has her finger bitten only to be saved by the older man. It is from this point forward that we really see a teacher/student relationship between all of the characters and Tampopo. Knowledge is shared between all of the characters in order to create that perfect bowl of ramen.

One is given the feeling that this gathering of all of these individuals embodies many of the ideas of both the American Dream and the American West. Here we have the arrival of Goro, an outsider, into the life of Tantoco and literally changes her life for the better. Again an idea borrowed from Western films. At the same time we see that the hard work that Tampopo place into her ramen shop, combined with a little luck, resulted in her obtaining the dream ramen shop that she wanted. It is with these two ideas that this scene brings together these American ideals and places it into the booming Japan of the 80’s.

The In-Between and the Indirect

As a necessity for growth of the body and therefore life, food integrates itself into the daily lives of most people.  This fundamental need, in turn, places food not only in the bowels of its consumers but also somewhere between those sharing the experience. The merit of food does not solely attribute itself to nourishing the body but also to giving sustenance to the soul – in its ability to form and build upon relationships.  Juzo Itami’s Tampopo (1985) showcases this binary nature of food as it follows the travails of Tampopo, a Japanese widow struggling to perfect her ramen with the aid of a truck driver named Goro.  Several subplots highlight that special somewhere food finds itself amongst relationships and weave their way into the film; these subplots are not limited to a couple with a food fetish nor to a woman’s attempt to teach spaghetti etiquette to her ramen-slurping accustomed peers.

 

Goro and Gun escort Tabo into his mother’s ramen shop after rescuing him. (00:07:48)

 

The first sequence in Tampopo’s ramen shop, in particular, demonstrates food’s ability to bring people together.  After listening to Gun’s story regarding how to properly and proficiently eat noodles, Goro, ravenous for ramen, decides to stop by what appears to be a hole-in-the-wall ramen shop.  There, they rescue Tampopo’s son Tabo from three of his schoolmates’ stomping, and escort him from the rain into the shop.  It must be noted that Goro and Gun form a new relationship with Tabo indirectly because of their hunger.  Inside the shop, Tampopo serves the two their long-awaited noodles (though they are disappointed).  A quarrel then arises between the two and a customer, Pisken, who continuously attempts to make Tampopo swoon with suggestions of taking her to Paris.  They exchange words, naruto is flicked, and they take it outside (Pisken has a posse). This part of the sequence showcases the making of enemies (again, indirectly) because of Goro and Gun’s hunger.  The aftermath of the sequence forms a lasting relationship between Goro, Gun, and Tampopo.  After taking a beating, the two truck drivers are nursed by Tampopo, who asks them what they thought of her ramen and ultimately asks Goro to teach her the art of ramen.  Finally, this sequence under consideration showcases hunger and a ramen shop creating new relationships (good or bad) between strangers.

Although this sequence occurs in the beginning, its importance can be found in the manner it establishes the theme of the movie.  It is dark out, and the rain is pouring; nobody is thinking about the gold and the green.  However, in this dreary setting, the hunger of two truck drivers forms these new relationships between strangers.  The sequence serves to establish that food can bring anybody together, coincidence or not, and it leaves the viewer not shocked by the rest of the content of the film, but enthused and in anticipation.  Later, the viewer observes as a couple erotically use food to build upon their relationship, with them exchanging an egg yolk back and forth between their mouths.  Student-teacher relationships are noted between the woman and her peers as she futilely tries to teach them not to slurp when eating spaghetti and in the beginning story Gun reads to Goro. 

Tampopo (1985) demonstrates that food is not only a vital part of life but unavoidable because of its necessity.  It constantly plays a role in the daily life of a person, whether through sharing a meal with another or annoying a store clerk because all one wants to do is squeeze some peaches.

Tampopo: The Individual’s Search for Self-Identification

Juzo Itami’s comedy film, Tampopo, portrays the story of a modest noodle cook who aspires to master the perfect recipe for making ramen noodles. After her husband’s death, the relentless widow, Tampopo (Itami’s funny sensibility at work), strives to support her son and herself by keeping her noodle house running. Tampopo soon discovers that this task is anything but simple when Goro and Gun, noodle connoisseurs and truck drivers, wander into her shop and sit down to try a bowl of ramen. Goro, who loves noodles so much that he can discern whether a bowl of ramen is good or not by just the sight of it, converses with another customer by swapping opinions about Tampopo’s noodles like chef judges would.

Tampopo is met with disdain when the two describe her ramen as “sincere”, insinuating that her noodles aren’t great. Goro and Gun agree to teach her how to stir up the perfect recipe for a bowl of noodles, and the widow’s wild ride to learning the art of cooking and serving the best ramen begins. Itami perfectly arranges the film with a collection of indelible moments that all come together as one.

Itami’s camera floats to a scene in which Goro and Gun are sitting before their breakfast meal: a bowl of ramen prepared by Tampopo. Instead of quietly enjoying their meals, the two suddenly become food critics. The truckers reluctantly, but in all honesty, say that the noodles “lack profundity”, that “they’ve got sincerity- but they lack guts”. These philosophical sentiments delivered by the connoisseurs demand a special respect for the art of ramen. By astounding the widow with their frankness and eccentric sense of humor, Goro and Gun most effectively break through the wall to Tampopo and her quest to find the perfect recipe for making noodles. In a later sequence when Tampopo is on the verge of a noodle breakthrough, Goro critiques Tampopo’s noodles again, stating that “they’re beginning to have substance, but they still lack depth.” It is through this education of ramen, an identifiably Japanese dish, that Tammpopo begins her skillful training and strength building. The scene reveals the most engaging thing about Tampopo: the film portrays a vision of Japanese culture where the social position of the individual is subordinate to the ethical unity of a stable society. Tampopo’s search to find the perfect recipe for ramen may represent an individual’s social role in a consumerist era.

Philosophical sentiments delivered by the connoisseurs

The astonishing philosophical verdicts delivered as Tampopo’s noodles slowly improve continue to resonate with me. I love the cold yet candid immensity of the words, and how confounded Tampopo is when she hears those words come out of Goro’s mouth. It is a scene that repeats itself in my head whenever I pull up a stool at a ramen house, or even when I’m simply microwaving a Cup of Noodles or Top Ramen at home. Itami’s Japanese film comically tells the story of the Japanese culture’s tradition to contribute something that is valuable to the citizens of Japan as a whole.

Food, Sex, and the West in Tampopo

A man and woman share an egg in an intimate embrace

In the Japanese film Tampopo, director Juzo Itami uses food, ramen noodles in particular, to highlight the explosion of new goods and the emergence of a consumer culture during the Bubble Era in Tokyo and the consequential drowning out of long-standing Japanese traditions. The film follows a young Japanese woman, Tampopo, on her quest to turn her small restaurant into the best ramen noodle joint in all Japan. Itami plays on the western genre in conjunction with a salute to ramen noodles and Japanese food in general to emphasis the collision of two opposing cultures. A reoccurring theme that best demonstrates this cultural mingling is food as a driving force in sex.

The above clip is taken from one of the film’s odd sex scenes. In this particular case, a man and a woman are standing in an uncomfortable yet intimate embrace passing an egg between each other’s mouths. With each exchange they grow more and more excited until finally the women breaks the egg between her teeth and lets the yoke run down her chin in a fashion that mocks the overcoming feelings of ecstasy and sexual release experienced after an orgasm. This, without question, was one of the stranger scenes in the film and elicited nervous laughs throughout the class. However, this scene is extremely important in combining the undeniable human need for food for survival with raw sexual desire. Through the use of food as a stimulant, Itami demonstrates that these desires are closely linked and that eating food can bring a person the same deal of pleasure as can a sexual act. Itami also demonstrates that eating should be a celebrated experience that is intended to bring the consumer great satisfaction and happiness.

This scene is also significant in that it represents the complicated relationship between the Western world and Japan during the Showa Era. During this postmodern time, Japan was the world’s second largest economy. This resulted in an overflow of money, people, and goods from overseas into Japan. Because of this explosion of new cultures and ideas, Japan quickly adopted the mentality of “out with the old” in order to remain relevant. The man and women’s intimate sharing of the egg can be interpreted as the unstable and uncomfortable relationship between the West and Japan at this time and their sharing of ideas, goods, and cultures. The man is the West and stands dominate over its Japanese counterpart, as depicted by the woman. However, the relationship grows more equal and intimate as they stand with locked arms and faces pressed together. This represents Japan’s growing importance to the West as it began to emerge as a world super power. The final breaking of the yoke in the woman’s mouth emphasis Japan’s subordinate role to western powers and how it was unable to maintain all of its roots and traditions during this time.

In this way, Itami brings food to the forefront of cultural importance in Japan during the Bubble Era by using it to represent both our primitive desires as well as the fragile yet intimate relationship between Japan and the West.

Risking Life for Food: The Importance of Food as a Source of Happiness and Fulfillment in Tampopo

 

 

 

 

 

Food is a necessary part of everyday life. It shapes how societies function and serves as a major tool in globalization and the spread of culture within a country itself. In Tampopo directed by Juzo Itami, the major plot revolves around a woman, Tampopo, and her desire to be a successful ramen chef. Through persistent research and development, she eventually becomes successful. She takes a risk by opening a ramen-ya in the first place. She is not well trained and thus runs this mediocre restaurant until Goro, the trucker, helps train her to become better. He takes a huge risk on her; he goes in blind only hoping that his knowledge and dedication to ramen will transfer over to Tampopo. Thankfully, Tampopo is the ideal student; she does whatever it takes to try and become successful. She risks life and limb to make sure that she produces the best ramen. She puts everything on the line to pursue her life dream and doesn’t let anything stand in her way. This major theme that resonates throughout the story of taking risks and challenging the social norm, is not only shown in Tampopo’s story, but in that of that various side-plots throughout the film.

The old man in the scene below perfectly exemplifies the necessity of taking risks in life. He is told specifically to not eat the shiroko, the kamonamban or the tempura soba because “they almost got you last time” (as stated by his wife). However, the moment that she leaves, he immediately begins to gorge himself; so much so that he gets food stuck in his throat and begins to choke. He so thoroughly enjoys this food he eats with a blatant disregard for the warning he receives. He loves the food so much that he doesn’t really care what it will do to him; he only knows that he must risk eating it in order to be happy.

The old man is warned that if he eats what he likes, he is risking his life.

In general, however, living involves many risks. The old man is told that he can’t eat this, that, and all sorts of other things. But he still orders all the things he’s not supposed to. Why? Risk makes us feel alive. Life without risk is life stuck in a rut. Like Tampopo, the old man is not content with barely living, he wants to do what he wants, and not let anyone dictate what he can or cannot do. The predominant characteristic of humans is our ability to take risk. We need change and growth in our lives. If you’re not growing, then you’re dying. The old man literally takes this to heart, disregarding his previous negative experience.

 

The old man gets the food vacuumed out of his throat, saving his life. 

Itami shows the true importance of food and its correlation with happiness. Though this scene can be taken as a simple comedic interlude, I feel as if it is one of the most important moments in the film. It shows not only that food is something that people really enjoy, but it also shows the risks people will take to pursue something that they love. Food is an important status in Japanese everyday life. They unite family, community, society, and culture; things definitely worth taking risks to attain.

United By Food

In Itami Jūzo’s Tampopo, Japanese culinary arts are portrayed as an extremely important factor of everyday culture and business which affects people of all ages from the young to the elderly. The film parodies the idea that all dishes including traditional common dishes such as ramen play a key role in the success of the Japanese economy. Although globalization is demonstrated to be occurring, the importance of the traditional culture remains strong in Japan. As demonstrated throughout the movie, businessmen and commoners alike all vehemently attempt to find or consume the best tasting food available. This urge hence leads to a greater consumption of food which in return is responsible for the growth of the economy of Japan who is constantly attempting to expand through the use of food.

The mother caresses her child as he contently enjoys his mother’s milk and bond together as one.

       The final scene of Tampopo involves a mother nursing her infant on a bright day in the park accompanied by the sounds of a carnival in the background. The woman and her nursing child are shown siting on a bench at an eye-level medium shot which slowly transitions into an eye-level close up shot of the infant contently nursing from the mother.

         The mother is a symbol of the people who consume food and aids in the maintenance of the Japanese economy. Based on how the mother is dressed in this scene, it is difficult to determine whether her diet consumes of only traditional foods such as ramen or a mixture of traditional along with other types of cuisines. But, it does not matter what she consumes because she must eat in order to produce milk for the child. This discrepancy in her eating emphasizes the unity found in Japanese food despite the globalization taking place. Both foods such as ramen and French foods help fuel important people much like the businessmen are powered by French cuisine and Tampopo makes a living selling ramen.

(Left) The gentleman reveals his knowledge of French cuisine by requesting specific French drinks, (Right) Tampopo found in her new restaurant made possible by her success as a ramen chef as revealed through her attire.

           The child nursing is a symbol of the Japanese culture which thrives on food. As mentioned before, the milk produced by mother will not differ depending on what she eats much like the economy will not differ if traditional food is sold alongside other cuisines. In the film, the more aristocratic people cater to exotic cuisine while the commoners are content with ramen hence revealing a sense a unity among each other by food that is demonstrated though the unity formed by the dependence of the child for the mother’s milk.

         The music in the background evokes a sense of peace which is seen after the child receives what he wants. The happiness of the child combined with the joyful tone of the music reveal the conclusion that there will continue to be positive growth so long as the food needs of all are met. Throughout the film, different characters whether they remained alive or dead in some cases, retained a positive attitude at the end due to eating what they enjoyed hence making this end scene a significant image that emphasizes the purpose of the film.

Tampopo: Challenging the Social Status Quo

The master teaching his pupil the art of ramen consumption.

Itami Juzo’s 1985 Tampopo presents the story of a widowed mother trying to save a failing noodle stand. The film contains a great deal of small narratives that ultimately compose the entire story. Itami uses food as a focal point to illustrate and even satirize social issues within Japan, including class distinctions and the Westernization of Japanese culture.

The opening scene of the film portrays an older, presumably wise man instructing his young pupil on the art of ramen consumption. All of the following scenes build off of the seeds planted by this introduction, making this the single most important scene in the film.  First and foremost, this scene introduces food as the focal point of the film.  Itami centered this film on food because it plays a key role in numerous aspects of many different societies, and can be used as a jumping off point to introduce discussion of different aspects of society at large.

Itami also introduces another major point of this film in the opening scene: challenging the social status quo.  The food being consumed in this opening scene is ramen.  Ramen has traditionally been regarded as common food, with no special or significant value attached to it.  This is what makes the ritual of ramen eating portrayed within the scene so strange; there is no justification for, or history of, such theatrics for consumption of lowly ramen. By rethinking tradition in the opening scene of the movie, Itami sets the stage for this to be repeated throughout the film.  This is evident with the scene in which the young businessman does not follow the example of his superiors and instead orders a high-culture French dish.

The portrayal of the ramen eating ritual also serves two other very important roles. The first is that it elevates the status of ramen within the minds of the audience, which is vital if the audience is to be drawn into the film.  If ramen is viewed as a lowly, common food as it traditionally is outside of the film, then there would be no need for Tampopo’s ramen shop to elevate the quality with ramen.  The audience, along with the other characters in the film, would be satisfied with mediocre ramen because it is a mediocre meal.  By elevating ramen to a form of art, Itami creates a need for the restaurant to elevate the quality of noodle. The second of these is that it gives Goro the expertise to properly critique Tampopo’s ramen, and guide the shop to a heightened level of success.  Goro’s knowledge of the art of ramen allows the audience to believe he is capable of passing on his knowledge of ramen to Tampopo.

Itami continually uses food in many different ways as a tool to disrupt the traditional status quo within Tampopo. He accomplishes this not only by using food to directly illustrate his point, but also as a framework to use other methods and build characters. The introductory scene serves as a building block on which all of Itami’s arguments are built.  Without this scene, the movie would lose all merit, and suffer from both a lack of substance and an inability to portray a believable story to the audience.