The savior of students, bachelors and all others who never learned minimal cooking skills — the inventor of instant noodles died at the age of 96.
Momofuku Ando, the founder-chairman of Nissin Food Products Co, died of a heart failure on Friday evening at a hospital in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, his family said. He was 96.
Ando was widely known as the inventor of instant noodles.
Ando was inspired to develop the instant noodle after coming upon a long line of people on a cold night shortly after World War II waiting to buy freshly made ramen at a black market food stall, according to Nissin. The experience convinced him that “Peace will come to the world when the people have enough to eat.”
He invented his first world-class product, Chicken Ramen, in 1958. His soup in a cup — using a polystyrene cup within which you made self-contained soup — hit the marketplace in 1971.
Redenbacher… Ando…. You would never think the pioneers in the “instant” generation would outlive their consumers. But many thanks, Ando. Colleges across the country are flying their tear-away ramen lids at half staff.
R.I.P. sir. Your Momofukuing noodles helped me through bachelorhood. 😉
Hopefully there are some young Momofukers to carry on…
We owe more to this man than we can possibly imagine.. If it weren’t for him, over half the college students in the world would die of starvation before they reached graduation.
Adieu my savior, adieu
We shared many a warm cup together.
Adieu.
You are a man who used his noodle for the good of man.
Those noodles taste kinda funky don’t they? I never found a brand that tasted good.
Have to disagree Booya-san. For some it’s an aquired taste. For some it’s a “can’t stand them” due to saturation. But for some, it’s the soul food of the quick meal.
Try it with a little finely chopped scallion, and some cut up beef, pork or chicken left overs. It doesn’t take much to bump up the flavors. But even straight it’s still among the best of the just-add-water-boxed-foods.
Now my daughter’s personal choice of box mac & cheese, that’s funkey.
Thank you Ando-san–never knew your name until now.
I’ve survived some low money times on ramen noodles, whether from a bag or from a cup. Kballweg’s right–you can add things (green onions, leftover bits of meat, hot sauce, scrambled eggs, other leftover vegetables) to ramen and get something that’s pretty edible. The flavor packets are pretty salty, though.
There are far worse things for you available at any restaurant than some ramen noodles, particularly if you fortify them with some fresh vegetables. It seems that his intentions were noble, and that the world rewarded him for that. Far more people than college students are kept alive on instant noodles, and I think that the fact that this blog was the first I heard of his death is a crying shame
I’m the N to the O, O, D the L the E
And can’t no other homie put it down like me
So delicious (It’s hot, hot)
So delicious (I put them boys on rock, rock)
So delicious (they wanna taste of what I got)
I’m Noodle-icious (t-t-t-t-t-tasty, tasty)
No better source of quick calories for almost no weight to haul around the mountains in a backpack. Mmmmm.