Excerpts from Wikipedia.org
Momofuku Ando (安藤 百福), (March 5, 1910 – January 5, 2007) was the Taiwanese Japanese founder and chairman of Nissin Food Products Co., Ltd., and the inventor of world's first instant noodles and cup noodles. He was dubbed as Mr Noodle.
Ando was born Gô Pek-hok (吳 百福) into a wealthy Taiwanese family in Kagi (now Chiayi), Taiwan in 1910, when Taiwan was a part of the Empire of Japan. Ando's parents died when he was at an early age, and hence he was raised by his grandparents in Tainan, Taiwan. His grandparents owned a small textiles store, and this inspired him to start his own textiles company using 190,000 yen, at the age of 22, in Eirakuchō (永樂町), Taipei. In 1933, Ando travelled to Osaka, Japan on business. After World War II, Ando became a Japanese citizen, and moved to Japan, where he entered Ritsumeikan University and at the same time founded a small merchandising firm in Osaka with the inheritance from his family.
He was convicted of tax evasion in 1948 and served two years in jail. In his biography, Ando says he had provided scholarships for students, which at the time was a form of tax evasion. After he lost his company due to a chain reaction bankruptcy, Ando founded what was to become Nissin in Ikeda, Osaka, Japan, starting off as a small family-run company producing salt.
With Japan still suffering from a shortage of food in the post-war era, the Ministry of Health tried to encourage people to eat bread made from wheat flour that was supplied by the United States. Ando wondered why bread was recommended instead of noodles, which were more familiar to Japanese people. The Ministry's response was that noodle companies were too small and unstable to satisfy supply needs, so Ando decided to develop the production of noodles by himself. The experience convinced him that "Peace will come to the world when the people have enough to eat."
On August 25, 1958, at the age of 48, and after months of trial and error experimentation, Ando finally perfected his flash-frying method and invented the precooked instant noodle. Called Chikin Ramen (チキンラーメン), after the original chicken flavour, it was originally considered a luxury item with a price of ¥35, around six times that of traditional udon and soba noodles at the time. Ando began the sales of his most famous product, Cup Noodles on September 18, 1971 with the masterstroke of providing a waterproof polystyrene container. As prices dropped, ramen soon became a booming business. An estimated 70 billion servings were sold in 2004. As of 2007, Chikin Ramen is still sold in Japan and now retails for around ¥60, or approximately one third the price of the cheapest bowl of noodles in a Japanese restaurant.
In 1964, seeking a way to promote the instant noodle industry, Ando founded the Instant Food Industry Association, which set guidelines for fair competition and product quality, introducing several industry standards such as the inclusion of production dates on packaging. He was also the chairman of the International Ramen Manufacturers' Association and the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum is named for him.
According to the Financial Times, Ando’s invention of Cup Noodles in 1972, at the age of 61, helped spark the popularity of instant noodles overseas. He had observed that Americans ate noodles by breaking the noodles in half, putting them into a cup, and dousing hot water over the noodles. They also ate them with a fork instead of chopsticks. Ando was inspired, and felt that a Styrofoam cup—with a narrower bottom than the top—would be the ideal vessel for holding noodles and keeping them warm. Eating the noodles would then be as easy as opening the lid, adding hot water and waiting. This simplicity, efficiency and low price of Cup Noodles went on to transform Nissin's fortunes.
Ando was repeatedly honored with medals by the Japanese government and the emperor, including The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, Second Class, in 2002 which is the second most prestigious Japanese decoration for Japanese civilians.
Ando died on January 6, 2007 of heart failure in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture at the age of 96. Ando was survived by his wife Masako, two sons and a daughter. Ando claimed that the secrets of his health were playing golf and eating Chikin Ramen almost everyday. He was said to have eaten Ramen until the day before he died.
According to a Japanese poll in the year 2000, instant noodles were the most important Japanese invention of the century. Karaoke came second, with the Compact Disc only coming in fifth. As of 2005, approximately 85 billion servings of instant noodles are eaten worldwide every year. China consumes 44 billion packs of instant noodles per year, or 51% of the world, Indonesia consumes 12 billion, Japan 5.4 billion. Per capita, South Korean people eat the highest number of instant noodles, 69 packs per year.
Instant noodles are not only popular with college students, they can also be an economic indicator. In 2005, the Mama Noodles Index was launched to reflect the sales of Mama noodles, the biggest manufacturer in Thailand. The index was steady since the recovery from the East Asian financial crisis, but sales jumped by around 15% in first seven months in 2005 on year-to-year basis, which was regarded as a sign of recession. People could not afford more expensive foods, hence the increase in the purchase of ramen, as ramen is seen as an inferior good.
