Instant Noodles invented by Momofuku Ando

The first instant noodles were developed in Japan after World War II.

In 1958, Momofuku Ando, founder and chairman of Nissin Foods, invented the instant noodles.  Walking home one cold night, he saw people shivering around a street stall waiting for noodles, and was inspired to seek a method of flash-drying cooked noodles on palm oil.

The first instant noodle developed is a chicken-flavored instant ramen. It is to provide an easy-to-produce, convenience food option for citizens in postwar Japan, where food was scarce and finances were strained.

The instant noodle could be removed from its plastics wrapping, placed in a bowl, covered with boiling water and eaten three minutes later.

At first, Ando’s ramen was considered a luxury, since it was still more expensive for consumers than fresh Japanese udon noodles.

By the early 1970s instant noodles had made their way to most markets around the world, though the composition, thickness of noodle and flavoring varied across regions.

These instant noodles have become synonymous with convenience foods, and consumers have come to expect a certain consistency in the product, both in flavor and texture.
Instant Noodles invented by Momofuku Ando

History of Ramen

Ramen is a Japanese food serve in broth. It served in a meat-based broth, and uses toppings such as sliced pork, seaweed, green onion and sometimes corn.

According to historian, noodles originated from China over 4000 years ago and reached the Japanese culture much later on. In fact, we had to wait up to 19th century, in the Meiji period, for ramen to become widely known in Japan. Salt ramen originated in Hokkaido in the Taisho era. The Japanese dish was originally called “Lamen”, but will be later referred to as “Ramen”, since there is no distinction between the 'L' and 'R' sounds in the Japanese language and it was a more popular way to express the word.

After the Second World War came an intense food shortage in Japan, a turning point in the history of noodles. Ramen were perfect and greatly helped Japan, they were cheap and a great source of needed calories. This due to cheap flour imported from United States. A bit later, in 1958, Momofuku Ando, founder and chairman of Nissin Foods, invented the instant noodles, which are a lot closer to what the people eat today. It named the greatest “made in Japan” invention of the 20th century. In 1970, Nissin Foods introduced the ramen to the United States. In 1972, ramen was produced in United States. 4000 years after the origin of the first noodles, ramen are known worldwide and are part of over 85 billions meals every year. Today, ramen are everywhere in Japan and across the world, and each province has it unique flavor and closely-guarded secret ingredient.