Ramen repair videos probably not what they are cooked up to be, despite going viral on social media
- A YouTube video showing someone using dried ramen noodles to fix a hole in a porcelain sink lit up Twitter, Instagram and Facebook this week
- Previous videos have shown ramen being used to fix things like a dent in a car – but are they having us on, or is this a recipe for DIY success?
DIY videos have flooded social media platforms and cover everything from cleaning crayon marks off walls to upcycling your old clothes. Now one person seems to have taken the genre to the next level with his instant noodle repair trick.
The video showing someone using dried ramen noodles to fix a gaping hole in a porcelain sink went viral this week on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
In it, a broken porcelain sink is shown being filled in with blocks of instant ramen noodle – seasoning powder included – then covered with what looks like glue before being sanded down until smooth, and finally spray-painted white to reveal a perfectly repaired sink.
The video leaves more questions than answers, however.
More than 10 million people have watched the latest video, but DIY ramen fixes have been around for a long time. According to Know Your Meme, which explains viral internet trends, the videos are from Douyin – the Chinese version of TikTok, both owned by ByteDance – and made by the user Xiubandrng.
The videos show furniture being fixed not just with ramen, but also egg shells and even an Oreo biscuit. Another video shows a dent in a car being filled in and fixed with ramen. The videos are usually speeded up and the exact type of binding agent used is not shown.