Instant ramen is now the classic budget meal, but it launched in 1958 as a pricey novelty. This episode tells the story of Momofuku Ando and the engineering behind noodles that now reach more than 103 billion servings a year.

We start in postwar Japan and the launch of Chicken Ramen by Nissin, then examine a 1956 Taiwanese patent transferred to Ando in 1961. We explain wavy noodles, kansui, starch gelatinization, and flash frying, followed by the 1971 Cup Noodles inspired by Americans using paper cups, global consumption data, health studies, and the 2015 Maggi controversy in India.

• Why instant noodles cost more than fresh noodles when they debuted
• The Taiwanese patent that complicates the lone-inventor story
• How flash frying creates tiny pores for fast rehydration and long shelf life
• How watching American executives use coffee cups led to Cup Noodles
• What studies in South Korea and at Harvard found about frequent consumption