As an exchange student in Hungary last year, Ardy found the culinary change hard to digest.

The Gadjah Mada University undergraduate missed the diversity of flavors he had grown up with, the amalgamation of spices characterizing dishes from the archipelago – until he discovered a taste of home sold in local supermarkets: Indomie instant noodles.

The iconic brand from PT Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur (ICBP), a subsidiary of food manufacturing giant PT Indofood Sukses Makmur (INDF), has gone far beyond Indonesian shores.

ICBP spokesman Stefanus Indrayana told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that the company's instant noodles were sold in some hundred countries and produced in 31 factories across the world – with 30 billion packs rolling off the conveyor belt every year.

“I feel proud to be eating food that’s Indonesian in origin while also tasting good [...]. My fellow exchange students overwhelmingly favor Indomie,” Ardy told the Post on Thursday.

The brand has achieved such success in Nigeria that many take it for a domestic product, says local student George. “Sometimes in school, I eat Indomie three times in a week, because it is easily prepared and saves time and energy,” the 22-year-old told the Post on Friday.

Another Indonesian consumer brand making a splash overseas is Kopiko by food giant PT Mayora Indah.

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