The instant snack known as cup noodles is a key part of Japanese culinary heritage, an invention consisting of noodles and seasonings in a styrofoam container. It is only necessary to add hot water to the pot, and the flavorful snack should be ready in a few minutes.

Cup noodles were invented on August 25th, 1958 by Momofuku Ando, a Taiwanese-Japanese businessman who was also the founder of Nissin Foods, a company that is known all over the world for its instant noodles. Ando wanted to feed the masses because he was inspired by food shortages in the post-World War II period.

The first cup noodles were flavored with chicken, sold under the name Chikin Ramen, and soon became a staple in Japan. In the 1970s, Ando expanded his business to the United States of America, creating ramen for busy people to eat on the go.

Today, the trademarked noodles are sold under the slogan Much more than a soup, coming in a variety of flavors such as mashed potatoes, kimchi, tom yam chicken, and panipuri. In the United States, cup noodles are a huge hit among the college population, and a special, vacuum-packed noodles edition was even consumed in space, on the Discovery space shuttle, when Ando created Space Ram for a Japanese astronaut named Soichi Noguchi.