About a decade ago, the American internet found itself whipped into . Everyone from Anthony Bourdain to ¡°Top Chef¡± host Padma Lakshmi to the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg weighed in on whether a sausage hugged by a partially sliced bun constituted a sandwich.

A similar debate was ignited two years ago after a judge in Indiana ruled that tacos are ¡°¡± in a civil case over a strip mall taco joint, an act that generated a fresh round of ontological takes. The rabbit holes have gone wayward, prompting some folks to suggest .

For years, I¡¯ve been nagged by my own version of this question. I noticed, after many meals together ¡ª in New York, San Francisco, Hanoi, Tokyo ¡ª that a friend would consume her hot noodle soups like ramen and pho by draining the bowls of their broth and leaving a pile of wet noodles behind. ¡°It¡¯s like she thinks ramen is soup,¡± I thought.