Business History · Episode 37 · August 12, 2026 · 42 min
The Tangled Story of Instant Ramen
Momofuku Ando told the world he invented instant ramen noodles in a shed in his backyard. In Japan, there's not one, but two museums celebrating this breakthrough. Only Ando wasn't the first person to flash-fry noodles to preserve them - but he was willing to sue any rival ramen maker. Ando had suffered repeated business failures and even been jailed for tax fraud - but he created an origin story for his instant noodles so compelling that it helped him build a convenience food empire that sent instant ramen everywhere on earth and finally into space. Write to us at [email protected] See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.