26/04/13 - Global sales of instant noodles have reached 101.4 billion servings annually, an industry group reports. According to the Japan-based World Instant Noodles Association (WINA), sales of the easy-to-cook food have surpassed the 100 billion mark for the first time since sale records began in 1997. "The results show that instant noodles have become a global standard dish," WINA's Norio Sakurai. "We think global sales will continue growing particularly in some developing nations," he said. China, Indonesia and Japan round out the world's top three consumers of instant noodles. China, including Hong Kong, accounted for 44 billion servings, Indonesia followed with 14.1 billion units, Japan had demand for 5.4 billion units and Vietnam was close behind with 5.1 billion units. The noodles, which come dried or pre-cooked and can be boiled quickly, were invented by Nissin Foods in 1958.
25/03/13 - You may have seen this in the news over the past couple of weeks but The Maldives are making the Chinese very upset. Just days after a blogger posted his dissatisfaction with a resort in the Maldives that allegedly denied kettles to Chinese tourists for fear they would cook up instant noodles in their rooms, nearly 100,000 Chinese people have reposted the rant and demanded that their fellow citizens boycott the Indian Ocean nation.
According to the article posted on the popular message forum Tianya by a former manager of the upscale Beach House Iruveli, the staff of the hotel was ordered to treat Chinese guests differently and even referred to them in bookings as CN -- not for “Chinese” but for “cup noodle.”
The Chinese population consumes some 42.5 billion packages of instant noodles each year. A cup of instant noodles is such a staple of the Chinese diet that airports and train cars are often equipped with hot water fountains where travelers can fix themselves a meal on the run.
20/02/13 - TOKYO -- Instant noodles have long been a staple but there has been a new boom in those sold in packets, as food manufacturers have introduced new textures based on those of fresh noodles
The boom was sparked by new production methods, launched by manufacturers in line with the reappraisal of instant noodles as preserved food in the wake of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Increased budget-consciousness among housewives has also added fuel to the fire, prompting many instant noodle makers to ramp up their production facilities.
One popular product, Nissin Raoh by Nissin Food Products Co., which appeared last August in limited markets such as the Kanto region, is “showing strong sales even without offering discounts,” said company President Susumu Nakagawa. “Our production capacity has fallen short of demand (for Nissin Raoh).”
The company said it reproduced the texture of fresh noodles by creating a product comprising three layers, exhibiting firmness on the inside and springiness on the outside.
The method had previously been used for instant noodles sold in cups, but its application to those sold in packets has proved more successful as the noodles are simmered for several minutes, according to Nissin.
Nissin fortified its noodle production capacity toward the end of 2012, and Nissin Raoh will hit stores nationwide from March 25. The firm plans to further adjust capacity this summer to turn out 300 million packets of the product per year.
The company that spearheaded the production of the fresh-noodle variety was Toyo Suisan Kaisha Ltd., which launched Maruchan Seimen in November 2011. The firm sold 200 million packets of the noodles in its first year of marketing them, Toyo Suisan Kaisha said.
The company has set the goal of selling 300 million packets of Maruchan Seimen per year by investing 1.5 billion yen to strengthen its production capacity.
Another major foodstuffs company, Sanyo Foods Co., has been aggressively marketing Sapporo Ichiban Men no Chikara since September 2012.
The output of instant noodles sold in packets peaked at 3.7 billion packets in fiscal 1972, but the figure declined to 1.68 billion in fiscal 2010, according to Nihon Sokuseki Shokuhin Kogyo Kyokai (Japan instant food industry association).
That was because instant noodles sold in packets were less popular than those sold in cups, which can be prepared easily and quickly, industry sources said. But the shipments of noodles in packets rose to 1.77 billion packets in fiscal 2011, the industry association said.
With sales of 1.9 billion packets expected for fiscal 2012 and 2 billion for fiscal 2013, demand has continued to soar, allowing the instant noodle market to gain steam thanks to new production methods
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Never be alone at noodle time[/caption]07/02/13 - Never feel alone again when you're eating your noodles. The clever folks at MisoSoupDesign have come up with a bowl that allows you to dock your smartphone on it so you can listen to music, watch a video or even go for a video call - not that I'd recommend that on behalf of the person you might call
06/02/13 - WOW! Miso ramen flavoured ice cream, has been spotted at Namja Town, a Tokyo indoor theme park. I've only seen one review of them, it's pretty funny and you can find it here on YouTube
05/02/13 - There has been a Bank of America Merrill Lynch report this week that has looked at lots of metrics coming out of China to try and understand what's going to happen in China over the next decade or so. There are many, many areas that have been studied but by far the most important of these - China consumes 43% of all instant noodles consumed in the world - WOW!
04/02/13 - A spokesperson from Toyos Suisan, a Toky based food manufacturer, went on record earlier this week to discuss the company’s hopes for their new product aimed at women, saying: “The biggest consumers of instant noodles are men aged 20-40, so it’s true that few women have the opportunity to eat them. We decided to produce a brand of noodles that targets women specifically.” They will launch two flavours on March 4th 2013 - Chamomile Salt broth and Rosehip Tantanmen (Szechuan style noodles)
01/02/13 - I love this, apparently in Australia they're really quite excited about the new levels of Chinese tourism. So much so that hotels across the country are swapping tea bags for tea leaves, Mandarin speaking staff are being hired, Chinese language newspapers are being delivered and (my obvious favourite) packets of instant noodles are being offered alongside chocolates in the minibar. If this truly is the Asian Century one can only hope that we're all going to get a better standard of noodle!
31/01/13 - The largest instant noodle manufacturer in Thailand, Thai President Food PLC, has been looking to expand its operations in other countries for some time now with regards to their brand Mama Noodles. A recent joint venture programme in India has hit some troubles which could have been damaging as the majority of their products end up in India. What they've cleverly arranged is a similar operation in Bhutan where they will be allowed to export to India free of taxes; an arrangement that will include any products that are originally exported from Thailand that pass through Bhutan. Under the plan this new factory will be able to produce approximately 300 packets of instant noodles per minute. Thai President Food also aims to have another factory completed in Ghana by 2014, West Africa, which will serve the domestic market.
30/01/13 - On my travels around the internet I find some gems with reference to the mighty packaged noodle products out there. You may not have heard of him if you're in the UK but he's a New Yorker that runs a ramen noodle restaurant in Tokyo called Ivan Ramen. Here are his top 9 suggestions on how to improve your instant noodles in a matter of moments using ingredients such as bean sprouts, boiled eggs, kimchi, corn and more .
29/01/13 - There's been a video around the web for quite some time that shows what happens inside the stomach when one eats noodles. They did a comparison between fresh and processed and guess what, the implication (I have to say that as there is no actual proof) is that fresh are better for you as the processed ones sit in the stomach for a lot longer. I don't know when we'll get the results but I'm waiting with baited noodle breath, see the video here.
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