“But who's to say that these two phases, water absorption and protein denaturing, have to occur at the same time? […] You don't have to complete both processes simultaneously. In fact, if you leave uncooked pasta in lukewarm water for long enough, it'll absorb just as much water as boiled pasta.”
Besides, even North East Asians say they're okay.
https://soranews24.com/2017/08/27/can-you-make-instant-udon-...
sounds weird, right? except the western equivalent is a pasta salad which you probably eat all the time.
think harder about food.
I understand the concept of cold noodles and all the other varieties of noodles, but to me instant means hot, maybe the branding is just too strong.
(Also I am south asian, pasta salad is rather fancy thing here)