Friday, a man passed away who has done a great service for the whole world. Ando was king of instant ramen, or so the article says. What I do know is that Ando Momofuku has been the hero of many the basement nerds and college students. He believed that peace would come to the world when people have enough to eat. I’m not too sure about that, but I do know that I have enjoyed his creation plenty of times. Inspired by food distribution issues in the aftermath of World War II, he developed a two minute cooking version of his own country’s favorite noodle dish: ramen. He founded the precursor company to Nissin in 1948 and introduced the all time favorite chicken flavor instant noodle packet in 1958 much the way you can find it today. In 1971 he did it again with the cup ramen, which has also remained largely unchanged.
And, of course, my favorite bit from the article:
In July 2005, Nissin introduced a vacuum packed instant noodle specially designed for Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi to eat during a mission aboard the U.S. space shuttle Discovery.
Showcasing his Space Ram noodles, Ando said, “I’m happy I’ve realized my dream that noodles can go into space.”
Well, whether hero or just a noodle crazed freak, I salute him. Now go have a hot bowl of ramen. You know I’m going to be depending on him over the next semester without a meal plan.
