is a Japanese condiment made from lacto-fermented bamboo shoots. The bamboo shoots are dried in the sun or through other means before the process of fermentation. Menma is a common topping for noodle soups, notably ramen. Menma is primarily produced in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, with brands imported from southern China and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a Country, country in East Asia, at the junction of the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) to the n ...

being popular. Menma is also known as , "Chinese bamboo".

Etymology

The trading company that would later become Marumatsu Bussan had been exporting dried bamboo shoots produced in

as ''shinachiku''. In 1946, responding to a formal objection to the use of the term Shina from the Taiwanese government, the

Japanese Foreign Ministry The is an executive department of the Government of Japan, and is responsible for the country's foreign policy and international relations. The ministry was established by the second term of the third article of the National Government Organ ...

issued a memorandum recommending that the term be avoided.See :wikisource:支那の呼稱を避けることに關する件 Marumatsu Bussan founder Shūsui Matsumura claims that he came up with the new product name menma, a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsYokohama Chinatown is located in Yokohama, Japan, which is located just south of Tokyo. It is about 160 years old, with a population of about 3,000 to 4,000. Today, only a few Chinese people still live there, most being from Guangzhou (Cantonese people). Yok ...

. This name could not be trademarked but gradually became accepted as the common name for the condiment as its popularity grew in Japan. Menma is not, however, customarily eaten atop noodles in Taiwan; the vegetable toppings on the popular noodle dish Zhajiangmian, 菜碼 (

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese f ...

: càimǎ) were once called 麵碼 (miànmǎ).

References

External links

Recipe at RecipeZaar.com

Măng khô
Asay food Japanese condiments Chinese cuisine Toppings Plant-based fermented foods {{Japan-cuisine-stub

Etymology

See also

References

External links