Udon Noodles in Broth

During my student days I became a devotee of Japanese films, especially those that incidentally depicted scenes from daily life. Such films gave me insight into a culture that I had only read about and never directly experienced. Naturally, I was particularly interested in scenes showing eating habits and cookery. I noticed that the Japanese often seemed to be snacking on soup noodles, slurping them up and smacking their lips in a way that always made me hungry. I later learned that these w