Celebrating Momofuku Ando's 105th Birthday

Short entry today, just to celebrate Momofuku Ando's 105th birthday. Don't say you know nothing about him, okay? Today is a Google doodle day for Mr. Ando. You know, I made this entry just to say Thank You, Doumo Arigato, and Xie xie ni for his effort, creating the 1st instant noodle for needy. I'm also one of the needy these days (and quite penniless sometimes because of car figurine obsession... *hehe). Instant noodle also helps me a lot when I was study at university (which stopped students from starving to death). With instant noodle, it bears my struggles into passion.

Mr. Ando's hardship in the past is my lesson learn for today. It's okay if you failed. Failure will show us the other way to succeed. I just need to wait. While waiting, a bowl of instant noodles is not a crime, I guess... ^^


Info about Mr. Momofuku Ando



Chinese name: Wu Baifu
Japanese name: Momofuku Ando
Born: March 5, 1910/ Kagi County, Japanese Taiwan (now Puzi, Chiayi County, Taiwan)
Died: January 5, 2007/ Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
Alma mater: Ritsumeikan University
Known for: Inventor of instant noodles and cup noodles.
Company's name: Nissin Food Products
Successor: Koki Ando



10 Facts about Momofuku Ando

1. Mr. Ando loses his parent since child. He was raised by his grandparents in Tainan.
2. Mr. Ando used to run a small textile business at the age of 22 in Eirakucho (now, Taipei).
3. Mr. Ando travelled to Osaka in 1933, becoming a Japanese citizen, entered Ritsumeikan University and open a small business.
4. Mr. Ando was convicted and jailed in 1948 because of tax evasion. He served 2 years in jail because the scholarship that he provided for students was a form of tax evasion in that time.
5. Mr. Ando opened a new small family-run company business after he loses his company previously, due to a chain reaction bankruptcy. The company known as Nissin, producing salt at first before entering noodle business.
6. Mr. Ando creates instant noodles during the Post-War Japan. After war, Japan is suffering of shortage of food and the Ministry of Health encouraged citizen to eat bread that was supplied from America. Bread is not as popular as noodle among citizen, so Mr. Ando decided to invent instant noodle. Instant noodle was a luxury item at first, but when as prices dropped, it boost his business and spark the popularity of instant noodles overseas.
7. Mr. Ando choose to invent his 1st instant noodle in Chicken flavor in order to avoid religious taboo. As he know, Hindus don't eat beef while Muslim don't eat pork but chicken is acceptable for every religion.
8. Mr. Ando eat his Chicken Ramen until the day before he died.
9. Mr. Ando had said that  his dream become true when Soichi Noguchi, an astronaut, ate instant noodle while onboard in space shuttle Discovery. Now, noodle can go into space.
10. Mr. Ando died at the age of 96 because of heart attack. Before that, he claimed that his secret of long life is playing golf and of course, eating instant noodle (which is Chicken Ramen)

Although I'm not slurping Chicken Ramen right now (Maggie curry with veggies+ prawn is my replacement...yummy~), instant noodles is undeniable food for those in need, or those who want to be quick. For sure, I agreed with Mr. Ando's quotes:

"Peace will come to the world when the people have enough to eat."

Thank you Mr. Ando, your invention means a lot to us :)

@magi2015

ref: wikipedia.org| instantnoodles.org| heavy.com| nytimes.com| theramenrater|raeraem.deviantart|