People in Toronto spent hours lined up for instant noodles you can get anywhere
TIFF 2026 has been making headlines since it officially kicked off on Sept. 10, but it was a kiosk handing out free instant noodles that made one of the largest — and most confusing — splashes over the weekend.
Toronto residents' willingness to line up for, well, anything has become something of a local inside joke over the years. Whether it's free, rare, or new, you can reliably count on locals to show up in droves to get their hands on it, even if that means waiting for hours.
With TIFF Festival Street taking over King West on the weekend of Sept. 12-13, seeing throngs of people congregated and waiting — whether patiently or decidedly less so — like they were on the weekend wouldn't be too out of the ordinary. But, as it happens, it wasn't a red carpet or star sighting they were waiting for.
No, it was the Nongshim Ramyun pop-up at the street festival, handing out free samples of its spicy instant ramen, that had festivalgoers whipped into a frenzy.
Once set up, the pop-up drew a near-instant line, with some visitors noting they waited over an hour to score a free, half-filled cup of the noodles, sparking hilarious social media updates so hopeful attendees could plan their line of attack.
Responses to the major splash the Nongshim Ramyun lineup made on social media ran the gamut from support to outright criticism.
"Patience is a virtue," one comment on a video, where the poster admits she waited around 90 minutes to score a cup of noodles, reads.
Another commenter astutely points out that a person could make the ramen themselves, or even order a bowl at a restaurant and have it brought to them, in a fraction of the time it took to wait.
One person in the comments of the video even notes that the 1.5-hour wait was "not bad" — they waited three hours.
Now, don't get me wrong: I love a good cup of spicy Nongshim Ramyun — not to mention free stuff — just as much as the next person, but I also have things to do with my life. When a single pack of the stuff retails for less than $2 at Walmart, I'd rather soak the cost and spend my time at TIFF on the hunt for my favourite celebs.
But judging by the sheer volume of visitors who came out to score a free cup of noodles, it seems I'm in the minority on this one. I mean, am I even a real Toronto girlie if I'm not willing to wait in line for an hour?
TY Lim/Shutterstock.com
