Happy Throwback Thursday! Today we’re spotlighting the year 1970, the year Americans were introduced to Top Ramen. Instant noodles were invented in 1958 by Momofuku Ando, the founder of the Japanese food company Nissan. In post-World War II Japan, widespread food shortages led to black-market ramen vendors. Ando saw long lines at these black market ramen stalls and vowed to create noodles that would be able to be prepared quickly and made with just hot water. After a year of tinkering in his garden shed, he discovered the process of flash frying, which dehydrated the noodles and allowed them to be stored for a long time. When his Top Ramen was introduced in Japan in 1958, it was considered a luxury item! It cost significantly more than fresh noodles, and many stores were skeptical and hesitant to stock it. But within a year, the product was so successful that stores had difficulty keeping up with demand. By the late 1960s, Ando wanted to enter the U.S. market and formed a U.S. subsidiary in 1970. While on a business trip, he saw a grocery store manager preparing ramen by putting the block of noodles in a paper cup and pouring boiling water over it. That inspired him to create the Cup Noodles brand, which was introduced in 1971. Today, more than 100 billion servings of instant noodles are consumed around the world every year. Learn more here.