357451 Fri Jan 05 22:34:13 -0800 2007 22 29 Not About Food 0 2157892 It is with a heavily clogged heart that I come to you today with news of the passing of Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant ramen. The 96 year-old founder and chairman of Nissin developed a fever and was en route via ambulance to a Kansai-area hospital when he died of a heart attack at 6:40 pm Japan time. Born Wu Bai-Fu, Ando was a Taiwanese immigrant to Japan who in 1958 perfected a flash-frying method by which he could create cakes of dried noodles. “Chicken Ramen” was at first an expensive, luxury food item, but innovations in manufacturing soon brought prices down. The first ever instant ramen became a ubiquitous and popular snack food during Japan’s lean, post-war years. In 1964 Ando founded the Instant Food Industry Association, which established standards for instant noodle quality. The chairman of the International Ramen Manufacturer’s Association had been working in a reduced role within Nissin right up until the time of his death, having recently developed “Space Ram” - ramen for astronauts headed into space. The Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum in Osaka is named in his honor. Reincarnate well, my good man. I’ll have a nice green salad in your honor. http://www.rameniac.com/index/comments/momofuku_ando_1910_2007/#comments Fri Jan 05 22:34:13 -0800 2007 11521 rameniac 1 2157905 Amen. Fri Jan 05 22:36:48 -0800 2007 2157892 61426 grocerytrekker 2 2158311 Thanks for posting this news. Anyone ever visit the museum? Sat Jan 06 00:19:48 -0800 2007 2157905 57299 Feed_me 1 2158348 The funeral took only four minutes! No, but I've been to the railroad & salt museum in Tokyo, the sushi museum in Shimeji. Sat Jan 06 00:32:51 -0800 2007 2157892 13853 Leonardo 1 2158487 i totally wanted to go, this last time i was in japan. the museum is quite a ways out from central osaka if i remember correctly, and alas i couldn't make it out there. next time for sure! Sat Jan 06 01:15:35 -0800 2007 2157892 11521 rameniac 1 2158725 Awwww. :( He helped me live through my graduate school years. I used to munch on raw ramen noodles. I know. (It's gross!) But I still love ramen "fried rice" and ramen corn chowder, two of my poor grad school favorites. Sat Jan 06 02:45:47 -0800 2007 2157892 39328 IndyGirl 2 2159488 uncooked instant ramen is actually a pretty popular snack food for many. you can season the package and then smash it up, or if you have access to a japanese supermarket, try the Baby Star varieties - they're basically dried instant noodles packaged for snacking. Sat Jan 06 14:01:13 -0800 2007 2158725 11521 rameniac 1 2159495 Some people sprinkle crunchy ramens over a salad. My daughters, college age, eat them dry out of the package discarding the flavor packet of course. May he rest in peace!! Sat Jan 06 14:05:57 -0800 2007 2157892 16196 AnneM 1 2160442 Instant ramen, peanut butter, red pepper flakes, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil: a beloved cheapie meal of my impoverished student days. R.I.P., old man, and thanks. Don't forget to throw away that packet. Sat Jan 06 21:29:21 -0800 2007 2157892 10143 MC Slim JB 2 2161005 oh my lord... i can't even begin to comprehend how that tastes. Sun Jan 07 01:14:10 -0800 2007 2160442 11521 rameniac 3 2162108 It's basically a budget variant of a cold sesame noodle recipe; you combine the non-noodle ingredients in a little saucepan on a fifth burner, then stir them into noodles you've cooked in an electric kettle. Actual proportions: 2 teaspoons soy sauce, 1.5 teaspoons rice vinegar, healthy dash of dried hot red pepper flakes, 1 packet of sugar, 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter, 1 teaspoon Chinese sesame oil, 2 teaspoons water. A little fresh grated ginger is a nice addition, but I didn't always have that on hand. This is surprisingly not awful, and a better bit of dorm-room cuisine than the one recipe my buddy ever made: Ragu on English muffin, American cheese melted onto it in the toaster oven ("pizza", blech). We were very poor. Sun Jan 07 16:19:40 -0800 2007 2161005 10143 MC Slim JB 1 2161487 Slightly off topic, but how did he get the name Momofuku Ando? From my love of Momofuku, the restaurant in Manhattan, I know that it means "lucky peach." But how did Wu Bai-Fu come to change his name. Anyone know? Thanks. Sun Jan 07 05:18:18 -0800 2007 2157892 16301 Non Cognomina 2 2161526 His original name Bai Fu -meaning hundred fortunes- is read as Momofuku in Japanese. Bai is byaku or hyaku, but also momo - means hundred, a great number, all, a great amount Fu is fuku - means fortune, luck, wealth, blessing. Even "food which has been offered to gods" according to my Andrew Nelson dictionary. (!) p.s. Peach is also momo, but it's a different character - "to". Sun Jan 07 05:47:28 -0800 2007 2161487 61426 grocerytrekker 3 2162883 Thank you, thank you! Momofuku in NYC mentions nothing of Momofuku Ando in any of their literature, but they are the kind of guys who I would expect that sort of "play" on words to also be an homage to this important noodle dude. Sun Jan 07 21:24:54 -0800 2007 2161526 16301 Non Cognomina 1 2161498 He emigrated from Taiwan. Immigrants change their names all the time. Could mean "happy peach". No, I don't know why he chose it. Sun Jan 07 05:25:15 -0800 2007 2157892 13853 Leonardo 2 2161536 Also to become a citizen, not an easy thing in Japan, you have to change your name to a Japanese name. Sun Jan 07 06:00:37 -0800 2007 2161498 27275 ML8000 3 2162468 Wasn't Taiwan a Japanese territory at that time? Sun Jan 07 18:50:58 -0800 2007 2161536 10732 JMF 4 2162622 It was under Japanese military occupation for many years until the end of the war. Sun Jan 07 19:46:14 -0800 2007 2162468 13853 Leonardo 1 2161521 Famous legend about the PeachBoy, Momo Taro, perhaps he took it from that? Sun Jan 07 05:39:32 -0800 2007 2157892 61669 Quine 1 2169960 NYTimes has noticed his passing as well: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/opinion/09tue3.html?em&ex=1168491600&en=3b7a48876bee5364&ei=5087%0A Tue Jan 09 19:10:29 -0800 2007 2157892 12766 welle 2 2170952 It actually made the #1 "most e-mailed list". and it's still there. http://www.nytimes.com/gst/mostemailed.html Tue Jan 09 22:49:33 -0800 2007 2169960 61426 grocerytrekker 1 2170715 The museum is in Ikeda...just outside Osaka proper. Tue Jan 09 21:52:54 -0800 2007 2157892 13700 ricepad 1 2170779 Finally heard about this on NPR last night. Took long enough! Tue Jan 09 22:06:29 -0800 2007 2157892 39328 IndyGirl