History of Instant Noodle

Among the many achievements that have benefited humanity, a survey from December in 2000 showed that the Japanese voted instant noodles as Japan’s greatest invention of the 20th century (BBC, 2000). The results of this survey may be unbelievable, but do you know how such a convenient and delicious food was invented?

The inventor of instant noodles, Momofuku Ando, formerly known as Go Peh-hok (吳百福), was born in Taiwan’s Kagi-chō (now Chiayi County) in 1910 during the period of Japanese occupation. He was Taiwanese Japanese. His parents died when he was young, and he was raised by his grandparents who ran a small wholesale fabric store. At the age of 22, Momofuku Ando used his father’s legacy to start his textile company, and the following year he established a company in Osaka, operating the knitwear trade in Taiwan and Japan.

After World War II, Momofuku Ando chose to naturalize in Japan and moved to Japan with his family. Facing the bombed offices and factories, and the devastated Osaka street scene after the war, Momofuku Ando did not blame fate or other people but chose to reinvigorate the department store industry. At that time, the lack of supplies caused many people to die of malnutrition and starvation. In 1948, Momofuku Ando started a small company producing salt, which later became today’s Nissin Foods. 

Due to the severe food shortage, Japan had to rely on the material assistance of the United States, most of which was wheat flour for making bread. At that time, the Japanese Ministry of Welfare (now the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) also actively promoted activities of bread making and eating. Momofuku Ando found that in post-war Osaka, on the ruined streets, many people lined up in long queues just to eat a bowl of warm ramen. As a lover of traditional Japanese noodles, he believed that only ramen could truly warm post-war Japan. In this regard, Momofuku Ando made a suggestion to the Ministry of Welfare, and the response was that the scale of manufacturers of ramen products was too small and unstable, and there was no comprehensive plan for the distribution method, which could not meet the domestic supply-demand. Therefore, he decided to start the development and research of noodles in his own house and spent nearly a year trying from mistakes. Finally, he found that frying can quickly evaporate the water in the noodles. There will be many small holes left on the surface after frying so that the dried noodles can quickly absorb water and soften.

On August 25, 1958, invented by Momofuku Ando, the world’s earliest instant noodles “Chicken Ramen” (チキンラーメン) was finally officially sold on the market. This simple and delicious ramen can be eaten just by adding hot water. As soon as it was launched, it was loved by consumers and became a popular item. However, the price of this bowl of chicken ramen was not cheap at the time. A bowl cost 35 yen, which was 6 times more expensive than the udon noodles and soba noodles sold at the store.

In December of the same year, Momofuku Ando changed the name of the company to Nissin Foods and began to expand the scale of operations. As instant noodle products received extremely high evaluations from consumers, many imitation products were launched one after another. Nissin Foods began to apply for trademarks and patents to the government, and in 1961 officially registered “chicken ramen” as a trademark, and obtained a patent for the manufacture of instant noodles the following year. However, in 1964, Momofuku Ando established the Instant Food Industry Association, stopped the monopoly of instant noodle patents, and set the guidelines for fair competition.

After that, Momofuku Ando hoped to enter the U.S. market with instant noodle products, so he began to travel to the U.S. to learn about the local dietary habits. Momofuku Ando found that Americans mostly used plates instead of bowls, which was more inconvenient to use for instant noodles, so he came up with the idea of using styrofoam cups or paper cups for instant noodles. On September 18, 1971, the world’s first cup-packed noodle “Nissin cup-packed instant noodles” (カップヌードル) was officially sold, and since then instant noodles has entered the international market. In addition to promoting instant noodles to the world, in 2005, Nissin Foods also cooperated with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to use vacuum packaging to produce instant noodles that can be eaten in outer space for Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi.

Today, although Momofuku Ando, known as the “Father of Instant Noodles”, passed away in 2007, instant noodle products of various flavors have filled our daily life. In newspapers, magazines, and TV programs, there are often voting activities such as “Compare Instant Noodles in Various Countries” and “Which is Your Favorite Instant Noodles?” Instant noodles are simple and convenient food that allows us to enjoy a variety of different tastes.

Author: Esa Chen

References: 

1. BBC. (2000, December 12). Asia-Pacific | Japan votes noodle the tops. BBC News. Retrieved March 5, 2022, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1067506.stm 
2. 新潮社フォーサイト. (2019, February 1). 【番外編】NHK『まんぷく』チキンラーメンは本当に「発明」なのか（下）- 野嶋剛. BLOGOS. Retrieved March 5, 2022, from https://blogos.com/article/355107/ 
3. Cam, L. (2020, April 6). What’s the story behind Instant Ramen Noodles? South China Morning Post. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3077785/whats-story-behind-instant-ramen-noodles-and-how-did 
4. The Japan Times. (2007, January 7). Japan Info Guide Links for living in Japan. Ando was king of instant ramen | The Japan Times Online. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20070901180348/http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070107a2.html 
5. Brickman, S. (2014, May 21). The history of the Ramen Noodle. The New Yorker. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-history-of-the-ramen-noodle 
6. Wallace, B. (2007, January 7). Momofuku ando, 96; inventor’s cup noodle became an instant hit. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jan-07-me-ando7-story.html 
7. File:Cup Noodles.jpg. (2021, March 12). Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. Retrieved 07:20, March 6, 2022 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.phptitle=File:Cup_Noodles.jpg&oldid=541707155.
8. Cup Noodles Museum. (n.d.). About. CUPNOODLES MUSEUM YOKOHAMA. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://www.cupnoodles-museum.jp/en/yokohama/about/