Instant Ramen Noodle Inventor Momofuku Ando, 1910-2007

Momofuku Ando, founder of Nissin Food Products and the man who invented Instant Ramen Noodles, died of a heart attack yesterday.

From Momofuku Ando’s bio page on the Nissin Food Products website:

Founded in 1948 Mr. Momofuku Ando began the company from a humble family operation. Faced with sparse food sources after World War II, Mr. Ando realized that a quality, convenient ramen product would help to feed the masses. His goal was to create a ramen that could be eaten anywhere, anytime. In 1958, Nissin introduced “Chicken Ramen”, the first instant ramen. Ironically, it was considered a luxury item since Japanese grocery stores, sold fresh Japanese noodles (Udon) at one-sixth the cost of Mr. Ando’s new food concept.

Telstar Logistics has been covering this breaking story and points us to this wonderful Flash annimation of The Instant Ramen Invention Story.

Like so many others, I ate of ton of Instant Ramen when I was in college and later on for lunch at my desk at various jobs. Farewell Ando-sama, you have keep many of us well fed when money was tight.