Who is this guy and why does he get a Google Doodle?

 

That guy is the reason college kids don't starve. He is the reason my nephew says he can cook.  That guy invented instant noodles.  Say thank you to Momofuku Ando, if he were alive he would be 105 today.  He died in 2007.   He still lived to be 96 years old.  His secret to longevity?  Eating a Chicken Ramen nearly every day. He had his last one the day before he died.

So here is a history lesson for you, courtesy of our friends at Wikipedia. In 1958, Japan was in the midst of a food shortage after WWII.  They had bread from the US, but Ando thought the people should eat the more familiar noodles. The government said nobody could make enough.

So Ando started working on the instant noodle. He had to come up with a formula for tasty instant noodles that did not turn into mush when boiled.   Time.com says Ando's wife told him to spray the noodles with chicken soup then fry them in tempura oil.   It worked and instant noodles were born.

At first they were kind of expensive but soon the price came down and now instant noodles are downright cheap.  Why I could save a lot of money if I only ate Ramen and bananas.

This is a very long video about the history of the Nissin company and the instant noodles. Feel free to skip around if you like.  The beginning is the best. It's all about the origins and how Ando finally discovered how to keep the noodles crisp.

 

 

By the way did you know there is an Instant Noodle Summit held every year.  Look what they unveiled at the 2008 meeting. A statue of Mr Ando!

 

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Props to Mr Ando, his instant noodle invention is keeping a lot of bellies full around the world.

 

 

 

 

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