To help address the food shortage crisis in Japan after World War II, inventor and businessman Momofuku Ando develops Chicken Ramen, the first-ever instant noodles, on August 25, 1958. The shelf-stable noodles are readily available, take two minutes to cook and fill hungry bellies. Today, instant noodles are a ubiquitous global fast food—and not just in college dorms. More than 100 billion servings of the just-add-water meals are consumed annually, the World Instant Noodles Association reports.

While ramen is considered quintessentially Japanese, it actually originated in China. In 1858, when Japan ended its nearly 200 years of self-imposed isolation, cultural exchange and trade began to flourish. An influx of Chinese migrants brought their culinary skills to Japan, introducing the wheat-based noodles to Japanese tastebuds. After decades of adaptation, the restaurant-quality ramen we know today—a savory broth typically combined with shredded meat, vegetables and fresh aromatics—was developed in 1926 by a chef named Wang Wen-chai at a Chinese restaurant in Sapporo, Hokkaido. His challenge: to make noodles that appealed to the palates of both Chinese and Japanese students studying locally.

In the years after World War II, widespread food shortages in Japan led to the introduction of black-market food vendors selling ramen. According the Nissin, the company Momofuku Ando founded, Ando noticed long lines forming at the black-market ramen stalls. It was then he set his goal: to create noodles that can be “quickly prepared and eaten at home with only hot water.”

Source: history.com