2026-11-02
The 100 Greatest Products · #39 | Instant Noodles: How a Bankrupt 47-Year-Old in a Backyard Shed Fed 120 Billion Mouths a Year
In 1957, Momofuku Ando lost everything at age 47 except a modest house in Ikeda, Osaka. Locking himself in a 10-square-meter backyard shed, he discovered flash-frying dehydration from his wife's tempura pot—creating a product consumed 120 billion times a year.
