Instant ramen noodles were invented in Japan in 1958 by businessman Momofuku Ando. Initially a bit of a luxury, they eventually became an inexpensive global staple. The air-dried noodle brick offers a kind of culinary safety net – even when you have next to nothing to eat in the house, you may still have ramen.
Recently, however, instant noodles have been given an upgrade as people seek to adorn and improve them with fresh ingredients and fancy additions. Ocado’s sales of instant noodles have risen 50% year on year, and TikTok now has more than 22,000 posts under the #ramenhacks hashtag.
