While today, instant ramen is considered to be the food of starving college students, when they first came out, that wasn’t necessarily the case. Momofuku Ando is the founder and creator of Nissin ramen products, known best in the United States for Cup Noodles. He created the brand as an instant snack in 1958 after he realized that food was becoming more and more scarce in Japan after World War II.
However, when it hit the shelves in Japanese supermarkets, it was considered an expensive product. This is because fresh udon noodles were being sold for one-sixth the cost of his ramen. Imagine not buying instant ramen because it was too expensive.
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