Too Hot to Handle: Asian Society Hosts Spicy Ramen Challenge
By Crystal Zheng ‘27
During Club Block 1 on October 28, 2025, Asian Society (AS) hosted its annual Spicy Ramen Challenge in the Farokhzad Mathematics Center (FMC). As students trickled in, they gathered around the tables to watch contestants guzzle down ramen. In all, four rounds of six competitors commenced, with each participant competing against others in their round to finish their bowl the quickest, while AS board members rushed to prepare and serve fresh cups to incoming participants. Competitors volunteered to compete to eat one of two types of ramen: Shin ramen or Black Buldak ramen. Based solely on spice level, the Black Buldak ramen was more challenging to finish than the Shin ramen. Even so, the winner with the quickest finishing time was, counterintuitively, under the Buldak section. Ben Wang ‘27 finished in sixteen seconds, earning him the title of overall winner for this challenge.
Traditionally, the Spicy Ramen Challenge is hosted in Straus. Co-head Cattien Huynh ‘26 explained this year’s change of setting, asserting, stating that “originally, we wanted to host this event in Straus, but it wasn’t open this week, so we decided to host it in the FMC instead.”
The rules were declared as the first round of people lined the long table. Participants had to finish both the noodles and the broth, leaving nothing in the cup; they could not blow on the noodles before the timer started, and the first person to finish under these guidelines would be deemed the winner. The first round featured spicy Shin ramen with six people at the table to compete. After fifty-six seconds of slurping and splashing soup, Grant Kim ‘28 set the stage as the winner of the first round. He described the ramen as “hot with an underlying flavor of umami.” Additionally, he expressed his appreciation for the crowd’s cheering and support, which motivated him to finish the ramen swiftly.
In the next round, new participants sat at the table to eat a different kind of ramen, Black Buldak. In a mere sixteen seconds, Ben Wang ‘27 finished his cup. The crowd was astonished, roaring in disbelief as co-head HT Xue ‘26 checked to make sure there was nothing left in his cup. Wang was crowned the winner of the Buldak round. “Since the Buldak ramen didn’t have much broth, it was easier to get it down in just a few bites. The noodles also weren’t as spicy as I anticipated because most of the spice was drained along with the soup,” said Wang.
Following this, a new group of competitors came up to compete. This time, Huynh, another co-head, won with a time of one minute and thirty-six seconds. Huynh said, “The strategy is always to drink as much broth first, because that’s what you’re usually left with. The struggle is not the ramen itself, but the hot broth at the end; that’s what hurts the most. It feels like you’re chugging straight liquid fire.” Without the soup covering up the ramen, she reasoned that it was easier to see what you had left.
In the final round, the last group of competitors came to the table. The crowd waited in suspense, making bets amongst themselves as to who would win the final round. After one minute and twenty-four seconds, Lucas Xia ‘26 stood victorious. He described his strategy: “I waited until the end to drink the soup to give it time to cool down, so it wouldn’t be blazing hot.”
Alisha Xu ‘27 explained that before she competed, she watched the other players to “[try] to examine the different strategies and find out which one was most effective.” She also noticed that most people did not take the time to blow on the noodles, but instead, went straight to eating.
Although different people adopted various techniques, the crowd played an essential role in the challenge, as players channeled the energy from the audience to gain the momentum to finish their ramen.