[alkyon]

It's easier to prepare ramen than pizza IMO. Even if ingredients are simple, you need a lot of skill to make a good Neapolitan pizza.

Risotto is even harder for various reasons. And what about Sartù di riso?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sart%C3%B9_di_riso

[epolanski]

Anything requiring skills may require a lifetime to be perfected, that includes making a burger.

But that doesn't make dishes or a cuisine sophisticated per se.

To me sophistication requires knowledge and mastery even if you need to make a very basic and the result is not good, think of a beef Welligton or roast beef or a soup d'onion.

Those are all much more complex dishes than making a pizza, they require more work, more ingredients, more time, more preparations.

[Ekaros]

I would go and say that good ramen have lot more elements than Neapolitan pizza. And those elements are more complex.

[alkyon]

Let us not conflate sophistication with number of ingredientes.

One of the most refined food I know is classic French omlette with just two ingredients, eggs and butter.

I don't say the Japanese lack refinement (sushi is one example of this), still there are a lot of complex Italian dishes as well.