Ramen Facts

In the Philippines, all processed food are required to be fortified with a vitamin and/or mineral in order to battle the malnutrition that is prevalent in the country. It's because they're cheap and most families can only afford processed foods like chips, ramen noodles, and biscuits. ap.fftc.org.tw/article/79…

In 2005, the Nissin Food company, the maker of Cup Noodles, created ramen designed to be eaten in space. This ramen is thicker, and can be cooked with just 70°C water since water can't be boiled in space. They call it Space Ram. nippon.com/en/features/c0…

The fish cakes in ramen are called "Narutomaki" and are named after whirlpools formed in the Naruto Strait in Japan. This is why Naruto UZUmaki from the TV show loves ramen so much. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nar…

Momofuku Ando, a national hero who is credited with helping to end Japan's post-war food shortage by inventing instant ramen, was born Taiwanese and didn't become a Japanese citizen until 1966 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mom…

Their are 17 flavors of Maruchan instant ramen including ones like lime chili shrimp maruchan.com/products/ram…

Japan is giving its elderly population discounts on ramen if they give up their drivers licenses miamiherald.com/news/nati…

Ramen noodles themselves are vegetarian, but the little seasoning packets are usually not. The one major exception to this rule is Top Ramen brand Oriental flavor, which contains no animal ingredients at all thespruceeats.com/are-ram…

The popular Japanese dish ramen is actually Chinese and was introduced to Japan only 100 years ago; it was originally known as “shina soba”: shina for China, soba for the noodle dish already well established in Japanese cuisine. firstwefeast.com/eat/2014…

The most popular prison currency is no longer cigarettes, but ramen noodles. bigthink.com/laurie-vazqu…

In 1971 while on a trip to America, 61-year-old Instant-Ramen creator Momofuku Ando noticed Americans were breaking up the noodles, putting them into a cup, pouring in hot water, and eating it with a fork. This gave Ando the inspiration to create what we now know as Cup Noodles. cupnoodles-museum.jp/en/o…

On August 25, 1958, Momofuku Ando invented the world's first instant noodles, “Chicken Ramen,” after an entire year of research using common tools in a little shed he had built in his backyard in Ikeda-city, Osaka Prefecture. cupnoodles-museum.jp/en/o…

Yokohama and Osaka Ikeda have Cup Noodles museum dedicated to Momofuku Ando who invented chicken ramen, world's first instant noodles. cupnoodles-museum.jp/en/

Japan offers ramen discounts to older drivers if they give up their driving licenses theguardian.com/world/201…

In Russia, flavored instant-mashed-potatoes in a cup are a popular snack, similar to instant ramen cup noodles in Japan and North America. 21food.com/products/mashe…

Cup Noodles were invented after Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant ramen, watched as American supermarket executives broke up his ramen to fit into styrofoam coffee cups, added boiling water & then proceeded to eat the ramen with forks. cupnoodles-museum.jp/en/y…

The Inventor of Instant Ramen was inspired to create cup noodles in its present day form by observing Americans who broke instant noodles into halves and shoved them into mugs, pouring hot water and eating them with forks. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mom…

In 1999 Momofuku Ando opened a museum in Osaka devoted to his invention of instant ramen news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-…

In 2015, a tiny Tokyo restaurant with only 9 seats became the first ramen restaurant in the world to obtain a Michelin star. telegraph.co.uk/news/worl…

Ramen noodles are now used more in bartering than tobacco products in prison. bbc.com/news/world-us-can…

A block of Ramen Noodles is 2 servings maruchan.com/products/ram…

There is a ramen restaurant in Tokyo called Umkara Ramen Hyouri which pays its customers 50,000¥ ($438) if they eat their ‘mega serving’ of ramen in under 20 minutes. kotaku.com/eat-this-ramen…

They have Pringles flavor instant ramen and instant soba in Japan halleluja.jp/51660

Ramen comes from Japan but is made from Chinese ingredients, causing the Chinese people to think it is a Japanese dish and Japanese people to think it is a Chinese dish. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/R…

There is museum in Tokyo dedicated to instant ramen and its creator, Momofuku Ando en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mom…

A Japanese stock trader turned $13600 into $156M over 8 years, he still "eats cup ramen for almost all of his meals" japanprobe.com/2008/05/20…

Ramen is the new form of currency in prison npr.org/sections/thesalt/…

The body builder from the Geico commercial "Happier than a body builder directing traffic," is an ex-con who go that big in prison using trash bags and other inmates for weights, and eating a diet mainly consisting of Dunkin’ Sticks, Top Ramen and honey bars. gym-talk.com/kali-muscle/

In Japan today there are over 35,000 ramen noodle restaurants that each pride themselves in their own ramen noodle recipe development. maruchan.com/ramen-histor…

That adding an egg to Ramen soup is awesome.

The creator of instant noodles, Momofuku Ando, lived to be 96 years old, and credited his longevity to "playing golf and eating Chicken ramen almost every day." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mom…

It would cost you only about $140 a year if you ate ramen for every meal. huffingtonpost.com/2014/0…

Every package of Maruchan brand Ramen noodles sold in the U.S. is manufactured in the U.S. maruchan.com/our-products

All of the noodles in one package of Ramen would stretch to 51 meters. ramenlicious.com/encyclop…

When first invented, Instant Ramen Noodles were considered a luxury item, as fresh noodles were being sold for as low as 1/6 the price of instant noodles. nissinfoods.com/company/a…

Maruchan has produced enough ramen that, when laid out end to end, could reach Mars and return to Earth. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar…

There was a PhD dissertation challenge, where PhD candidates had to use particular phrases in their dissertations. Past contests include "I smoke crack rocks" and "dirty old man." Winners received a paper certificate and a Ramen noodles box of their choice. phdchallenge.org/awards

One theory of the origin of the word "Ramen" is that it's the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese "Lo Mein" konzak.com/ramen/ramhist.…

Ramen was invented using trial-and-error in a backyard shed in Osaka, Japan nissin.com/en_jp/about/fo…

Maruchan Ramen, the ramen company, produces so much ramen noodles in a year, that if they were laid end to end they would stretch from here to Mars and back en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M…

A typical package of Top Ramen contains more than 1,820 milligrams of sodium, and most restaurant-made ramen contains 1,241 calories. huffingtonpost.com/2014/0…

Ramen noodles are known as an "inferior good"; consumption decreases as income increases. blogs.lawrence.edu/econom…

McDonald's sells ramen in Hawaii only. en.rocketnews24.com/2012/…

Hayao Miyazaki would personally cook ramen noodles for his animators at Studio Ghibli to keep his staff happy. youtube.com/watch?v=0BPTN…

There is a World Instant Noodles Association, the Headquarters of which is the Instant Ramen Museum instantnoodles.org/en/

Packages of Top Ramen noodles actually contain two servings, each a half block of noodles and a teaspoon of the seasoning. nissinfoods.com/Nutrition…

Cheap ramen became popular after an incredibly televised kidnapping in Japan famously known as the Asama-Sanso incident. mensjournal.com/food-drin…

There are over 1000 ramen noodle restaurants in Japan... maruchan.com/maruchan_his…

Maker of Cup Noodles, Nissin Foods, has created a ramen-flavored ice cream today.com/money/cup-noodl…

Momofuku Ando (the creator of instant noodles) has a day commemorating him. The day became an endeavor to help those in need by donating to charitable food banks, free meal kitchens or sharing ramen. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mom…

Instant ramen noodles are deep fried in palm oil before packaging straightdope.com/columns/…