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Beatles4ever remembers...I ate so doggone much of this when I was in college....whenever there was nothing I wanted in the dining ... More »
Posted on 09/19/08
The end of the road of college student hunger begins with the Instant Ramen Noodle. In 1958, Momokuku Ando, the founder of Nissin, set out to find a new way to feed the post-World War II masses, and did so by transforming a traditional Japanese and Chinese noodle soup into an instant meal, though the inexpensive classic it didn’t find success so quickly. Initially perceived by the Japanese as a luxury item and was more expensive than the freshly made noodles available in Japan’s grocery stores. Within a few years, instant ramen noodles caught on with Japan’s business class who needed quick food on the go. By 1972, Nissin began to market their product in the United States as “Oodles of Noodles,” and soon, college life would never be the same.
Along with the classic brick of fried noodles, Nissin also introduced Cup Noodles around the same time they brought instant noodles to the U.S. Preparation was now even more quick and simple than before – all that was needed was hot water and a few minutes for the veggies, noodles and seasoning to soak up and re-hydrate into a hot, delicious soup.
One common misconception about the ramen noodle briquette is that it is made from one long noodle, wrapped around itself until the noodle reaches the proper size. Often, they are about a foot and a half long and have many to a package. In fact, word on the street is that if you lay the noodles end-to-end, you have about a hundred feet in noodle alone!
Nissin brings in about 300 billion yen a year on their noodley meal. Translated to U.S. dollars, that’s $2.7 billion! After the success Nissin found, many other companies started making their own versions of this instant classic, creating an industry that pulls in around $10 million U.S. dollars annually. Impressive for a meal you can pick up for about a dime.
