Momofuku Ando
Posted on 08/25/2012 9:11:59 AM PDT by InvisibleChurch
The news last Friday of the death of the ramen noodle guy surprised those of us who had never suspected that there was such an individual. It was easy to assume that instant noodle soup was a team invention, one of those depersonalized corporate miracles, like the Honda Civic, the Sony Walkman and Hello Kitty, that sprang from that ingenious consumer-product collective known as postwar Japan.
But no. Momofuku Ando, who died in Ikeda, near Osaka, at 96, was looking for cheap, decent food for the working class when he invented ramen noodles all by himself in 1958. His product — fried, dried and sold in little plastic-wrapped bricks or foam cups — turned the company he founded, Nissin Foods, into a global giant. According to the company’s Web site, instant ramen satisfies more than 100 million people a day. Aggregate servings of the company’s signature brand, Cup Noodles, reached 25 billion worldwide in 2006.
There are other versions of fast noodles. There is spaghetti in a can. It is sweetish and gloppy and a first cousin of dog food. Macaroni and cheese in a box is a convenience product requiring several inconvenient steps. You have to boil the macaroni, stir it to prevent sticking and determine through some previously obtained expertise when it is “done.” You must separate water from noodles using a specialized tool, a colander, and to complete the dish — such an insult — you have to measure and add the fatty deliciousness yourself, in the form of butter and milk that Kraft assumes you already have on hand. All that effort, plus the cleanup, is hardly worth it.
Ramen noodles, by contrast, are a dish of effortless purity...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Momofuku Ando
First sentence kind of says it all. You didn’t make that.
Ah so, yes, I recall fondly my days in Japan (early 50s) and the late nite call in the neighborhoods of the O-So-Ba man and his door-2-door cart of hot, straming O-SO-Ba !!!!!
It cost about 5 yen at that time...(360 y =1$)
Those were the days....
Semper watching!!!!!
*****
You have to be one tough Momofuku to make it in the noodle business ...
I'll bet that even with these you could identify an indispensible person whose creativity, expertise, or tenacity was the key to making it happen.
According to the company’s Web site, instant ramen satisfies more than 100 million people a day. Aggregate servings of the company’s signature brand, Cup Noodles, reached 25 billion worldwide in 2006.
Make sure to put this place on your bucket list:
/johnny
Weird. I'm one of 'em 'cause as I'm reading this, I'm chowing down on a packet with a couple of chopped up bok choy stalks steamed in a rice cooker. Damned filling. One time I threw in some leftover chicken scraps and felt like I had a five-course dinner. Great stuff. Add any leftover to a 20c packet and eat like a king. :-)
I’ve always loved Ramen Noodles!
So easy, quick and clean to make.
I don’t care about the sodium damn it!
It also serves a currency in your local jail/prison.
Indeed there were brilliant individuals behind all these successes.
We don’t know who they are because, partly, of the language barrier. They are not visible to us as is Bill Gates. But Japan has more than its share of Bill Gates or Henry Ford-types. Soichiro Honda for one.
Mr. Noodle (2007 obit of maker of Raman Noodles) etc. etc. Ramen noodles, by contrast, are a dish of effortless purity. Like the egg, or tea, they attain a state of grace through a marriage with nothing but hot water. After three minutes in a yellow bath, the noodles soften. The pebbly peas and carrot chips turn practically lifelike.
Wow. I did not know that. I've always assumed it was a traditional J. food, and that we in the United State were getting the crap knockoff version. That seems not to be the case.
Wow, I had no idea! Thanks.
I’ll have to comparison shop to see how much the Hello Kitty gift set sells for in my area. I am sure that I will have no difficulty locating multiple retailers.
Ramen rocks. There are even ramen noodles that are meant to be eaten dry - snack ramens.
I liven three doors from a ramen noodle shop. Mmmmmmm....big ol bowl with egg, pieces of pork and some big bok choy pieces for about US$0.65. Good stuff.
that is quite the photon
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