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According to the World Instant Noodles
Association, Vietnam topped the global
ranking for instant noodle consumption
in 2024. The instant noodles trivia
report reveals some fascinating insight
about this popular comfort food. In
2024, Vietnam ranked first with an
average of 81 servings eaten per person
per year. In other words, Vietnamese eat
one serving of instant noodles every
four days. In second place is South
Korea with approximately 79 servings
eaten per person per year. Thailand is
in third place with approximately 58
servings per person per year. And in
2024,
123.1 billion servings of instant
noodles were eaten around the world.
Assuming it takes 3 minutes to prepare
each serving, then a total time spent on
preparing noodles last year was
approximately 700,000 years.
Yes. And as someone who enjoys instant
noodles myself, I find this number quite
relatable. And our reporter Kangming,
also a noodle enthusiast, spoke with a
professor to learn more about the
cultural aspect of this everyday
favorite. Let's take a look.
>> Thank you, Professor Alisa Freriedman
for joining our program.
>> Thank you for having me. It's an honor
to be here.
>> Vietnam is among the largest consumers
of instant noodles. So, uh, what does
that tell about the maybe the culture or
the history of of this kind of food in
Vietnam or in other countries as well?
>> Instant noodles, the packs of noodles,
um, to the best of my knowledge began
with a man named Ando in Japan in the
early 1960s. One day he saw his wife
frying tempura, Japanese fried food, and
he thought, "Oh, that's amazing. You
could quick fry and then dehydrate
noodles. But the silly Americans took
the block of noodles and crumbled it up,
put it in a cup and poured water over
it. He thought, "hm, that's
interesting." And he and his team worked
to engineer noodles that you could eat
out of a cup. When I'm in Vietnam, I
love to go to supermarkets and
convenience stores and just look at the
food products. And I was amazed by how
many instant noodles there are in
Vietnam. We have far fewer instant
noodles. I think in the United States,
but uh shelves and shelves of instant
noodles here.
>> What do you think make instant noodle or
cup noodles so symbolic in many Asian
countries?
>> I think when people see cup noodles,
they often think of student days. Like
the days when you're a student being
very busy studying for tests perhaps or
busy with life and you don't you're not
a good cook, you buy noodles.
Noodles flavors have changed too over
the years. The I think the very first
flavors that were marketed in Vietnam
maybe were seafood. The noodles in a cup
from Japan, the first flavors were
seafood and tomyang. In America, for
example, we have shrimp or chicken or
beef, some things that are very American
historically. So, I think they're
iconic. You think of you, think of
travel, think of on the- go.
>> I've heard that recently you had um
maybe a discussion or an exchange with
people in Vietnam about um instant
noodles or cup noodles. Could you share
a little bit about that? We talked about
how instant noodles came to be, for
example, starting as an expensive
product but getting cheaper thanks to
manufacturing techniques. But we also
talked about some practical issues. For
example, about how instant noodles
perhaps might be changing for
sustainability. Um, our discussion was
very lively and it led to some
cross-cultural comparisons across Asia
about different cultures of eating
noodles.
>> And that has been a very eyeopening
conversation with you, Professor Alisa
Freriedman, about a quick meal that we
take for granted maybe.
>> Thank you for joining us.
>> Thank you very much. Now I'm hungry.
>> Just from looking at it makes me hungry
already. And although instant noodles
are tasty and culturally iconic, we
might want to eat them in moderation.
Add veggies or protein, use less
seasoning, and enjoy them as an
occasional treat are also what Professor
Alisa Freriedman suggested.
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