‘People eat two or three packets a day’: how instant noodles took over the world

A dish of instant noodles at a restaurant in Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya, where the cheap, convenience food has grown hugely in popularity. Photograph: Edwin Ndeke/The Guardian

When a customer steps into Titilayo Taiwo’s noodle shop for breakfast, she knows exactly what to reach for from the small table where piles of ingredients are arranged. Among the scores of regulars at the street-side venue in Muhsin, a low-income suburb of Lagos, is Remilekun Oguntoye, 23, who waits for her usual order: two packs of noodles with a fried egg and some fish.

“In the seven days of the week, I can eat it up to five days,” says Oguntoye, who does not like cooking and sees noodles as a fast, filling alternative. “With the number of times I eat [noodles], I should be an ambassador by now.”