Instant ramen noodles have accomplished more than most people will in a lifetime

That's according to The Noodle Narrative:The Global Rise of an Industrial Food Into the Twenty-First Century. Japanese culture and language site Tofugu toured the Instant Ramen Museum, and its video of the process of making ramen will leave you either hungry, disgusted, or perhaps both:

5) Real talk: eating instant noodles has been linked to cardiometabolic syndrome

According to the World Health Organization, "2.5 million deaths could be prevented each year if global salt consumption were reduced to the recommended level [of] less than 5g per day." That means less salt needs to be in instant noodles and other packaged foods that tend to contain high amounts of salt for us to begin to consider them healthy. But there's some hope: there are international efforts to make ramen healthier, like playing around with both ingredients and the grains used for the noodles.

6) I'm not done with the bad news. An ingredient in antifreeze is also in many instant noodle meals.

It's because of the packaging, mostly, but Yahoo Health describes other ingredients that have nothing to do with Styrofoam:

Instant ramen may contain ingredients that might not kill us the first time. (Infographic: Yahoo Health/iStock/Priscilla DeCastro)

7) India surpassed US consumption of noodles only in 2012, despite having four times the population size

The United States (pop. 318 million) eats nearly the amount of noodles as India (pop. 1.2 billion), according to the World Instant Noodles Association.*

*There is a trade association for instant noodles.

There’s a lobbyist or a special interest group for everything. I never realized instant noodles needed an opportunity to defend themselves, although it's easier to understand given the concerns about the ingredients. So here we are, and now we know that ramen interests are being protected in Congress. I can't say I've seen legislation related to noodles; perhaps it's a matter best left to the courts or the 2016 presidential candidates.

8) This modern instant noodle assembly (by Fuji Manufacturing) looks like a tiny, futuristic factory line:

9) Instant ramen went to space in 2005

Ando's dream was to send ramen to space, and he did so before he passed away.

10) There’s a Pokemon instant noodle, and it has edible Pikachu face things

Photo: RocketNews24

For Pokemon fans, this is huge. For everyone else, it’s just good to know.