instant momofuku

We have many things for which to thank the seventies. Instant noodles in a cup were invented in September 1971, by Momofuku Ando. In 1958 at the age of 48, after much trial and error Momofuku perfected the flash-frying method of cooking instant noodles, so commenced the availability of packaged precooked noodles. It was not until 1971 his most famous product would be devised and marketed in a styrofoam cup.

Momofuku was born in Taiwan and became a Japanese citizen and moved to Osakafter WW2. He lived to the age of ninety six years, famously quoted to have eaten instant ramen noodles until the day before his death on January 5th 2007. He was driven to perfect mass production of noodles as a reaction to Japan’s Ministry of Health encouraging the national consumption of bread made from US imported wheat. In 2002 he was awarded The Order of the Rising Sun Gold and Silver Star.

The Ramen King and I: How the Inventor of Instant Noodles Fixed My Love Life, by Andy Raskin is due for relase in May 2009. The website ramenadvice.com has a page called Ramen Advice - Secondhand Wisdom from Momofuku Ando.

Some sweet second hand sage morsels. To quote Andy Raskin quoting Momofuku.

“In rapidly changing times, consider decisions deeply, but act quickly.”

Affirming the concept of umami. “There are those who avoid oil. These people should remember that rice contains oil, as do soy beans. Oil is the building block of umami, one of the five basic flavors.”

When Momofuku Ando set out to invent instant ramen in his backyard, many people felt sorry for him. His wife’s friends would ask what he was up to back there, and when she said, “Inventing instant ramen,” they would say, “Oh,” because they felt sorry for her, sorry that she was married to a man who had sunk so low as to devote his life to ramen noodles, the lowest of all foods. Of course, he died a billionaire. “Even a magnificent 200-year-old beech tree,” he once said, “grew out of bird droppings.”

“Just because it’s fresh doesn’t mean it’s more delicious. Meat tastes better with age, and bananas are sweeter when black spots appear on the skin. With shiitake mushrooms and abalone, the flavor emerges only after they’ve been dried out for a while.”

The time allotted to a man in one day is limited.
In that time, he works, he sleeps, he eats.
If he saves time performing these activities, he can invest it in improving his mind, making his life more abundant and long lasting.
Indeed, time is life.

I now have to wait until May 2009 to check out more from this foodie confucious.

Thankyou Andy Raskin for the Arnold Schwarzenegger Noodle in a cup suggestion.

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Tagged as: Andy Raskin, Instant Noodles, mass production, Momofuku Ando, Noodles in a cup, seventies, The Ramen King and I, wisdom