Nissin

Nissin Foods is headquartered in Osaka and sells its products in more than 80 countries; today most of its revenue comes from outside Japan. For the European market they are made by the subsidiary Nissin Foods Kft. in Kecskemét, Hungary. The Hungarian plant now employs more than 500 people and buys more than half of its ingredients directly in Hungary.

History

The company was founded in 1948 by Momofuku Ando. In 1958 he introduced Chicken Ramen – the world's first instant noodles. He developed them in a shed in the garden of his house in Ikeda, and the idea of drying the noodles quickly by frying came to him while watching his wife fry tempura.

On a trip to the USA in 1966 he saw people eating noodles from paper cups with a fork. That gave him the idea for Cup Noodles, which Nissin launched in 1971 as the first cup noodles. Nissin set up its US branch in 1970 and launched Top Ramen noodles there two years later; in Europe a branch in the Netherlands followed in 1991. In 2004 it began production in Hungary. The new factory in Kecskemét, opened in 2017, is also the hub of the company's European business and supplies 35 European countries.

Did you know?

• In 1958 Chicken Ramen sold for 35 yen a serving.
• In 2005 Nissin developed Space Ram – noodles for zero gravity, which Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi took aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.
• Momofuku Ando died in 2007 at the age of 96; the New York Times called him "Mr. Noodles".
• Two museums are devoted to instant noodles: the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum in Ikeda (1999) and the CUPNOODLES MUSEUM in Yokohama (2011).
• In 2016 Cup Noodles passed the mark of 40 billion servings sold.

What we stock

Instant noodle soups (100 g) in duck, prawn and pork flavours are ready a few minutes after you pour hot water over them. Yakisoba (111 g) are Japanese-style noodles without broth: after soaking in hot water, the water is drained and the noodles are mixed with the sauce. Choose from Chili and Japanese Curry flavours.

Top the soups with an egg, spring onion, leftover meat or vegetables. Yakisoba also taste good with stir-fried vegetables or chicken, sprinkled with sesame seeds or pickled ginger.