There are some things in the world, many things in fact, that people just take for granted. They've always been there, always will be there, and their existence is as concrete as... well... concrete.
But all these things, they have to have come from somewhere. Someone one day awoke, got out of bed, brushed their teeth, and then had a brainwave that completely revolutionised the world. Or at least made it a slightly easier place to live in. One such person was Momofuku Ando. And what was his revolutionary idea?
Ramen noodles.
Or, to be precise:
Instant ramen noodles.
There are people that live on these things. I make no comment about the nutritional status of such people, but when you consider how cheap instant ramen noodles are to buy (you can buy five packs for a single dollar bill) it's hardly surprising that it's the calorie choice of the poverty stricken everywhere. But it's not just the poor who benefit. Oh, no. The lazy too have been blessed by Mr Ando's vision of a world where a hot meal is but three minutes away from the kettle boiling. Instant packet and cup noodles are now found worldwide, with over 85 billion packets sold in 2005.
Impressive, no?
Early life
Momfuku Ando was born in Chiayi, Taiwan, on the 5th March 1910. His parents died whilst he was still very young, and so he was raised by his grandparents, who earned their living running a small textiles shop. When he was a young man of 22 years, Ando springboarded from his grandparents' trade and set up his first business manufacturing textiles. At this time Taiwan was a part of the Japanese empire, and so trade links with Japan were strong; Ando would often travel to Osaka on business, and eventually, in 1933, he moved to Japan permanently.
After the Second World War had ended, he took up Japanese citizenship, and whilst Taiwanese-born, he thought of himself as Japanese to his dying day. In the post-war years where Japan was struggling to rebuild itself both structurally and economically, Ando prospered. He had several manufacturing businesses on the go, and was even running a school. All this ground to a halt however in 1948 when he was convicted of tax evasion; I don't quite understand the logic of it, but apparently providing scholarships to students was a bigbadnogoodsir in the eyes of the Japanese government. His punishment for this crime was two years behind bars; eventually, his businesses went bankrupt and he lost everything.
Mr Noodle uses his noodle
So, I spoke to begin of brainwaves that revolutionised the world. Mr Ando's brainwave occurred as he watched the lunchtime queues of Osaka. The hungry were waiting at a black market noodle stall; the people waiting were the people who were also spending long hours working to rebuild the once-great power that was Japan. Both builders and bankers stood waiting for a lunch that took longer than it should have to materialise. Why?
Ramen (the non-instant kind) is a dish made from noodles and soup; the noodles are boiled and drained, and then a soup or broth is then poured over them. Finally, the dish is completed by sprinkling over various toppings (such as seaweed and char sui) according to the wishes of the customer. It's by no means a complicated dish to serve in the greater scheme of things, but the time taken to serve it is significant when it's just one stall attempting to provide food to a long line of customers.
As Ando observed this queue, he thought to himself that what was really needed in this situation was a more efficient method to produce a ramen meal for hungry, but busy, workers. By this time he was getting himself back on his feet after the bankruptcy, and had started up a new company (that would eventually develop into Nissin) involved in salt production.
The basic idea of how to make noodle dishes quicker and easier to prepare came easily; the final product did not. But eventually, after months and months of going back to the drawing board, Ando perfected his method of mass-manufacturing pre-cooked, instant noodles. The process is simple: cooked noodles are quickly flash-fried in palm oil, removing all the moisture from the noodles and producing a brick; this brick can then be re-hydrated later by simply immersing in hot/boiling water for a few minutes until soft again.
On the 25th August 1958, the Nissin company released its first product onto the market: chikin ramen. Full of that magic 'fifth taste' (i.e., MSG heaven) so cherished by the Japanese, it was bound to do well. Its initial launch is interesting historically; despite the current view of instant noodles being a cheap and easy food-fix, chikin ramen was originally launched as a luxury food item. In a climate where the average monthly salary was ¥13,000, chikin ramen packets cost ¥35 each; fresh noodles could be purchased from a street stall for around ¥5. Despite this, in its first year, Nissin sold 13 million packets of chikin ramen.
As the cost of production of chikin ramen decreased, so did the cost to the consumer. By 1970, annual sales weighed in at ¥3.6 billion. It was around this time that Ando had his second brainwave. After observing Westerners eating his product out of mugs with a fork rather than chopsticks, he stuck his product into cheap polystyrene packages, creating the Cup Noodle brand (as well as the concept); now all you needed was some boiling water and you were away.
His instant noodles weren't without critics though; makers of traditional soba and udon noodles decried his product as merely being flour, fat, and artificial flavours, not noodles. Well, let's face it, they're right. And udon and soba noodles, done properly as a meal, are an infinitely more appealing fare. But the combination of cheap + MSG is hard to beat; Nissin foods is now a $3bn multinational corporation with 29 subsidiaries in 11 countries.
Later life
Well, for all my griping about instant noodles not being the best nutritional source in the world, aficionados will be pleased to learn that Ando ate his products nearly everyday and still managed to make it to the ripe old age of 96. He was, justifiably, proud of his product and his life's work, and was repeatedly bestowed with awards and medals by the Japanese government and the emperor; he was given the Second Class Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, in 2002, which is the second-highest possible decoration for Japanese civilians. Not so bad for a man whose success is based on palm oil-fried wheat products.
And if that wasn't enough, instant noodles were voted by Japanese consumers as being the country's most important invention of the 20th Century. Yes, that's ahead of Nintendo game consoles, karaoke, and the Sony Walkman.
Think on that the next time you head down to the corner shop with a dollar in your pocket.
Momofuku Ando died on the 5th January 2007, in Osaka.
