The 100 Greatest Products · #39 | Instant Noodles: How a Bankrupt 47-Year-Old in a Backyard Shed Fed 120 Billion Mouths a Year
Every single year, humanity consumes 120.2 billion servings of instant noodles—roughly 3,811 packs opened every second. How did a simple block of dried wheat noodles rank No. 39 on our list of The 100 Greatest Products of All Time?
Because its creator, Momofuku Ando (1910–2007), started at age 47 after total bankruptcy and solved an impossible food-engineering paradox: how to make cooked noodles shelf-stable at room temperature for six months while rehydrating in boiling water in just three minutes.
1. The Tempura Revelation: Flash-Frying Dehydration (1958)
Air-dried noodles collapse their starch structure tightly, requiring 10+ minutes of boiling over a stove. Watching his wife fry vegetable tempura in hot oil, Ando realized that submerging steamed noodles in 150°C palm oil instantly vaporizes internal moisture. As the steam blasts out, it leaves behind tens of thousands of microscopic pores:
| Drying Method | Moisture Content | Micro-Structure | Boiling Water Rehydration | Shelf Life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air / Heat Drying | 12%–14% | Dense, collapsed starch matrix | Requires 10–15 min stove boiling | Long, but not instant |
| Fresh Wet Noodles | 28%–35% | Soft hydrated gluten | 1–2 min | Spoils in 48 hours at room temp |
| Ando’s Flash-Frying | 3%–6% (inhibits microbes) | Micro-porous sponge channels | Hot water rushes into pores in 3 min | 6+ months at room temp |
2. Reinventing It Again at Age 61: Cup Noodles and Mid-Air Suspension (1971)
When Ando visited the US in 1966, he watched American supermarket buyers break a pack of Chicken Ramen into a paper coffee cup and eat it with a fork because American homes lacked large ceramic ramen bowls. At age 61, he launched Cup Noodles, inventing the Mid-Air Suspension (中间保持法) structure: the tapered noodle block rests suspended 2 cm above the bottom of the foam cup, protecting it from shattering during shipping while allowing boiling water to circulate underneath and cook the block evenly from both top and bottom.
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