Baby Star Ramen is a 60-year-old dagashi snack from Japan with humble beginnings as being a byproduct from the instant cup noodle industry.

Created by Oyatsu Company in 1959, the idea for Baby Star was formed when employees noticed the number of small, and unusable broken noodle pieces during the manufacturing of Chicken Instant Ramen and instead of allowing this food to become waste, they used it as a snack for internal use.
The snack was a huge hit with employees as being a “re-born” food as well as a noodle based snack that could be eaten without cutlery or utensils. This eventually led to the sale of Baby Star Ramen to Japan’s general public.

Being a dagashi gave Baby Star Ramen a core audience of children and so their packaging was designed with them in mind, using colourful designs and introducing a mascot named “Baby” to help encourage sales.
In 1988 the mascot was changed to “Bei-chan”, who would often dress in different costumes on the packaging where different flavours were used, to show the cultural diversity of taste influences. Bei-chan remained the star mascot of Baby Star Ramen for 29 years until a recent 2017 rebrand brought in “Hoshio-kun”, a new and ‘hip’ mascot to update the long-lasting snack into current times.

Baby Star Ramen holds a special place in my heart as being one of the first dagashi I ever ate. I was sent a packet of the original chicken flavour ramen as a gift from my penpal back in 2004, and I have fond memories of snacking on it during a walk home from school as treat for sitting some intense GCSE exams.

It’s rich, flavourful and crunchy noodles will always bring a smile to my face and a sensation of 懐かしい. This snack shaped my love and appreciation for Japanese snacks, and without them, this blog may never have begun!

Have you tried Baby Star Ramen? If so, what is your favourite flavour?