How Much Ramen Is Consumed Annually?

About 95 billion packs of ramen instant noodles are eaten every year. That's enough for every college student in the United States to eat about 13 packs a day every day for a year. China consumes the most instant noodles of any country — almost half of the world's total — followed by Indonesia, which consumes about 14 billion packs a year. South Koreans eat the most instant noodles per person, at about 70 packs per person per year.

More facts about instant noodles:

  • Though Americans tend to associate ramen with only four flavors — beef, chicken, shrimp and oriental — there are thousands of varieties of ramen, many of them made with tasty additions. For instance, in China, instant noodles are often served with vegetables or sliced pork.

  • Ramen is considered to be a quintessential Japanese food, but it originated in China. The name is thought to come from the Chinese la mian, which means "pulled noodles."

  • The world's most expensive bowl of ramen is the Five-Taste Blend Imperial Noodles dish at the Fujimaki Gekijyo restaurant in Tokyo. The spicy version includes more than 20 gourmet ingredients and costs more than $100 US Dollars (USD).
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Discussion Comments

RoyalSpyder

Though I've never heard of the Five-Taste Blend Imperial Noodles dish, it certainly sounds interesting. Also, what are the twenty gourmet ingredients, and is it really worth one hundred dollars? I don't know if I'll be visiting Tokyo anytime soon, but that was a nice little tidbit.

Hazali

@Chmander - As you said, college students normally don't have a lot of money. Not to mention that the parents are usually their source of income.

Reading this short article, I didn't known that there were so many varieties of ramen. Going off of this, I'm also assuming that in China, instant noodles are a lot healthier than in America, where we always use the flavored powder as a supplement. Vegetables and sliced pork are a much better choice.

Chmander

Has anyone noticed that college students tend to eat ramen noodles quite a bit? When I was on college campus last year, I would always hear talks about eating noodle for dinner when there's nothing better to do. I find it quite funny actually. They spend so much money on college, and yet they don't have enough left to afford decent meals.

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