The Extraordinary Origins of Ordinary Things

some people associate instant noodles with broke college students but instant ramen wasn't created for a bunch of hungry 20 year olds the man who invented them was much more ambitious he set out to solve a hunger crisis in Japan after World War two food shortages plagued Japanese cities so the u.s. supplied wheat flour and encouraged the Japanese to make bread one man named Momofuku Ando didn't understand why his people would make bread instead of noodles something that was already part of their culture on dude decided to take matters into his own hands and create a new ramen made to last he spent a year trying to figure out how to preserve the noodles he needed a non perishable tasty and easy recipe but it was a challenge to maintain the robust flavors and unique texture that most people were accustomed to it wasn't until his wife was making dinner one night and he threw some noodles in a bowl of hot tempura oil that he realized flash frying the noodles was the answer he had been looking for this method not only dehydrated them it left small perforations that allowed the noodles to recut quickly and there you have it instant ramen noodles became an instant success undos products gained notoriety when he introduced the packaged ramen in the 1950s and later cup noodles in 1978 his company began selling upwards of 40 billion units every year and Momofuku Ando became a culinary icon in Japan so the next time you heat up a cup of instant noodles remember you're slurping down a little piece of history [Music] [Music] silly-string that bright fun party and an aerosol can was actually invented by mistake believe it or not it was supposed to help heal your broken bones in 1972 Leonard a fish an inventor and Robert C Cox a chemist were granted a US patent for a fumble resinous composition the two initially set out to create an aerosol can that could spray an instant cast on a broken leg or arm and the invention worked but when it came to packaging their discovery they tested 500 different types of nozzles through their tests fish came upon one that produced a string a string that shot 30 feet across the room inspired they decided to turn their instant cast into a toy after altering the formula to produce a more colorful less sticky string the pair set out to market their product neither of them knew the first thing about selling toys so they made an appointment with whammo in California but the meeting didn't go exactly as planned fish and [ __ ] sprayed the string all over the office including on the person they were meeting with and unsurprisingly out they were asked to leave the premises just one day later fish received a telegram from where mo asking him to send 24 cans for a market test turns out that a trace of the silly string was left on a lampshade in the office and was later spotted by huevos owners who themselves demanded a market test immediately two weeks later grandma signed a contract to license the product now known as silly shirt [Music] little treats there a rearview mirrors staple protecting noses from offensive odors all over the world but where do they come from over 60 years ago a scientist by the name of Julius Amon had a chance encounter with a milkman that changed the course of the air freshener game forever it was in Watertown New York a milkman was making the rounds when he stopped to speak to Julius a German Jewish chemist who fled the Nazis and studied out buying tree aromas in the forests of Canada said milkman began venting to Julius about the stench that spoiled milk left in his car and thus the quest began to destroy bad car odors Julius drew inspiration from the tree aromas he studied by infusing their oils onto paper in 1954 he filed a patent for tree shaped paper infused with odor destroying air perfumes Julius then started producing the air fresheners out of an empty auto shop and sending samples to local gas stations the little trees were a big hit and Julius successfully created the first automotive air freshener though the look remains the same the scents are forever changing now the little tree company has over 60 cents and has sold over a billion little trees worldwide [Music] I've been making this drink sounds so attractive and desirable for all these years do you recognize me the kool-aid man oh yeah so I've had several people say it's hard to picture that that voice is actually coming from you the human being oh yeah I like the voice because they don't know who I am when I first auditioned I think they wanted to get the flavor of the kool-aid man that was already on the air when I'd came in instead of making it oh so he's gotta have a big deep voice so I just start like this guy wants to be a oh yeah cool and I tried to make their voice you know just kind of roll around gutturally in my throat oh yeah I can remember those sessions up there three hours of them just saying okay do it again do it again do it again try it again how about lower more energy more this more Barry White bigger bigger bigger louder louder everything like wonder what am I not doing that you're not getting but you're telling me to use a lot of high energy like David Lee Roth I said the two don't mix David Lee Roth's going oh yeah doesn't mix with Barry White going oh yeah so you have to find a happy balance bottoms up [Music] liquid acid a sticky liquid that smells like butt crack with hints of dead animal so there are these guys Andrew masters I make liquid ass Alan Whitman liquid ass creator no head janitor we make the world's best stink product and they work here this is what we call the ass factory they hated their jobs so they followed their dreams and started a successful prank product company specializing in a really rancid fart spray but they needed a name I said so what we gonna name it and he's getting ready to sit down he goes I don't know look what I asked and I'm like that's it [Music] then something curious happens we're making a product specifically for pranks at first but then we start getting calls from military people enter Stu Segal this guy Stu ordered from us and I've never met Stu Dudley he's got a you know a pretty neat business he really does and he come up with idea to use it for triage but the fact is that it goes from Frank product a medical field is sort of a sort of a jump it turns out there's a secondary market for this stuff training some of the most elite Armed Forces to do their jobs we are a company those replicates the environment of combat and right now we're in a set that we built for medical training basically before this prank fart spray some of our best troops and emergency medical committee with the overwhelmingly horrid smells of death and disembowelment that they would probably encounter as part of their jobs it's a very awful smell it's something that just smells like liquid ass back to these two jokers now we have a product out there that's helping military training which is uh it's great you know you know not all heroes wear capes cakes cookies and brownies no we're not going to show you how to make them because they can be made with ease thanks to Betty Crocker who was born in 1921 in Minnesota well kind of [Music] in 1921 the Washburn Crosby company now known as General Mills ran a contest for people to complete the puzzle for the most coveted prize a pin cushion yes one of your very own surprisingly a lot of people wrote in to claim their prize but with a little PS they wanted baking advice so the customer service department began to reply and to make their tips seem more genuine they sign their letters Betty Crocker Betty because it was a cheery all around American sounding name and Crocker after a board member not being a real person didn't stop Betty Crocker from having a very successful radio show the Betty Crocker cooking school of the air with a different accent in every state but the lies don't stop there let's talk about that added ingredient the egg you don't need to add a fresh egg to powdered cake mix but science says it makes us feel like we aren't cheating and were better providers so thanks Betty Crocker for making us all feel like we know how to bake [Music] the creation of the potato chip is a rather snarky surprising an idiosyncratic story when french fries made their way to America they soon became a restaurant mainstay many restaurants serve fries as their signature dish believe it or not they were once considered very hoity-toity in 1853 George Crum was a chef at the moon's lake house in Saratoga Springs New York their signature dish was none other than moons fried potatoes or as the aristocrats would say potatoes served in the French Menna one day just like any other a customer some believed to have been Cornelius Vanderbilt himself ordered fries upon being served Cornelius scoffed and sent them back he deemed the fries soggy and not crispy enough this insanity continued a few more times until Crum lost it I mean he really lost it he fired back cutting the potatoes paper-thin and frying them up you see back in 1853 eating with your hands was a major faux pas making crumbs revenge even more diabolical by cutting the potatoes paper-thin there would be no way that Cornelius could use his fork forcing him to use his hands crumbs plan backfired and kind of as the patrons dug in with both hands and loved them Saratoga chips were born they became a Saratoga dining staple soon thereafter they took the world by storm Crum himself even opened his own restaurant with baskets of chips displayed on each in every table [Music]

Channel: Great Big Story

Views: 8,726,575

Rating: 4.8841105 out of 5

Keywords: great big story, gbs, lag, documentary, docs, food, ramen noodles, kool aid, car freshner, ordinary, betty crocker, Cup of Noodles, WW II, Noodles, Food & Drink, Weird & Fun Knowledge, Silly String, Nostalgia, Nostalgic, Air freshner, Drive, Driving, Car, TBT, Memories, Kool Aid Man, Fart Spray, Potato Chips, Prank, Foodie, Eating, flavors, snacks

Id: s3sS6JVhnt8

Length: 12min 9sec (729 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 11 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Now I can annoy my friends with even more "Did you know?" facts.
As always, you should of course fact check before spreading information.

Instant Ramen is true.

The potato chip story seems to be a myth.

Silly String seems to be true. They even copied the text on Wikipedia into their narration in the video.

Little trees/Wunderbaum story seems to be true.

Betty Crocker story is true.

[u/Louizidunz]

I'm not sure if the Kool-Aid man is a little bit too excited about his story or if he only has very tight jeans ಠ_ಠ

[u/ProbablyNotDave]

Sixty scents? That's not a lot of revenue for selling over a billion little trees.