Despite the area cuisine not being particularly known for wheat, Indonesia is the world's second biggest consumer of instant noodles. In 2023, they ate 14.5 billion servings according to the World Instant Noodles Association. 99% of its 285 million people have eaten it at one time or the other. There is another name on this list that kind of sticks out: Nigeria. What? Turns out - and this came as a surprise to me too - but the Indonesian noodle brand Indomie is super popular there. It is likely the single most popular packaged food in all of Africa. So popular it occasionally shows up in rap lyrics. How did that happen? In this video, we look at how a noodle brand from Indonesia became a sensation in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.
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