It’s postwar Japan, and entrepreneur Momofuku Ando has lost everything—his business, his home, and his savings. In fact, the whole country has been ravaged by air raids, and people are hungry. But when he stops at a black-market noodle stall and watches desperate people line up for a simple bowl of ramen, something clicks. What if they didn't have to wait? W ... Show More
Sep 2025
📺 SNL: The Snickers Bar of Saturday Night | 50
When Johnny Carson, 1970s late-night king, declared he wanted another day off, it left NBC with a hole in their weekend lineup. 11:30pm Saturday night wasn’t exactly the hot time slot… so the network recruited a quiet Canadian comedy writer named Lorne Michaels to produce a live ... Show More
42m 25s
Sep 2022
Instant Noodles Changed The World, Part Two: Going Global
As Momofuku Ando's instant noodles take Japan by storm, he sets his sights on the global horizon. In part two of this two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max explore the expansion of instant noodles into the United States, the rest of the planet -- and, eventually, space.See omnystudi ... Show More
33m 30s
Aug 2023
Noodles: The World's Convenience Food
Nissin Chikin Ramen (日清チキンラーメン), the first marketed brand of instant noodles, launched in Japan on 25th August, 1958.
The product was created by Momofuku Ando, who developed the production method of flash frying noodles after they had been made, thereby drying them and extending ... Show More
12m 3s
Sep 2022
Instant Noodles Changed The World, Part One: An Origin Story
Today, instant noodles are ubiquitous. You can find them in almost every grocery store, in any number of flavors sold by any number of brands -- but where did they come from? In part one of this two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max dive into the story of Momofuku Ando, and how a su ... Show More
31m 15s
Nov 2022
Toyota vs Honda | Out of the Wreckage | 1
It’s 1945. Japan lies in ruins in the aftermath of World War II. The population’s starving, the cities are reduced to rubble, and the nation’s defeated. But from the war-torn wreckage, two motor giants are about to rise.The first is Toyota. It’s the brainchild of Kiichiro Toyoda, ... Show More
38m 17s
Mar 2021
KFC vs Chick-fil-A | The Birth of the Bucket | 3
It’s the 1950s in Kentucky and Harland Sanders faces bankruptcy once again. 65-years-old, broke, unemployed and desperate, he barnstorms the country, living out of his car, selling his secret fried chicken recipe to restaurant and diner owners. Franchising is a new concept and it ... Show More
24m 41s
Sep 2023
We'd Like to Teach The World to Slurp: The Weird and Wonderful Story of Ramen's Rise to Glory
Savory, chewy, and, above all, slurp-able, a delicious bowl of ramen is one of the triumphs of Japanese cuisine. That's also a bit odd, because, for most of Japanese history, heavy, meaty, wheaty noodle soup would have had no place in the archipelago's otherwise bland and mostly ... Show More
48m 33s
Jun 2021
Food Delivery Wars | Who's The Boss? | 2
It's 1990 in Champaign, Illinois, and 15-year-old Tony Xu is washing dishes in the Chinese restaurant his mother manages. He wants to help people like his Mom, but it'll be many years before he hits on his solution for small businesses. Across the Atlantic, Bastian Lehmann forget ... Show More
23m 21s