Ramen Noodles - breakfast of champions

by nukegingrich | January 7, 2007 at 08:21 am

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A giant among inexpensive packaged food producers has died. If it weren't for ramen noodles (and potato logs, and beer) then making it through college would have been a lot tougher. (h/t slash-dot)

OSAKA (Kyodo) Momofuku Ando, the founder of Nissin Food Products Co. and inventor of instant ramen, died of heart failure Friday evening at a hospital in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, his family said. He was 96.

Momofuku Ando, founder of Nissin Food Products Co., stands inside a replica of the hut where Chicken Ramen was developed, at the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, in 1999. Born on March 5, 1910, in Taiwan, Ando initially ran clothing companies in Taipei and Osaka while he was a student at Ritsumeikan University. In 1948, he founded the precursor to Nissin and in 1958 unveiled Chicken Ramen, the world's first instant noodle product.

Ando was inspired to develop the instant noodle after coming upon a long line of people on a cold night shortly after World War II. They were waiting to buy freshly made ramen at a black market food stall.

The experience convinced him that "peace will come to the world when the people have enough to eat," according to Nissin.