Tribute to 'Father of Instant Noodles'

WORLD INSTANT Noodle Association (WINA), the brainchild of the man who made instant noodles a global staple, hopes to honour its founder by elevating the product into an 'Earth Food'. At its 7th World Instant Noodle Summit in Kuala Lumpur in April, more than 120 delegates from WINA member countries congregated to discuss the economic, environmental, dietary, technical and social impact of instant noodles in line with the theme 'Earth Food: Making it Happen'. The move is a tribute to the late Mr Momofuku Ando, who developed the technology for the instant meal and established Japanese instant noodles giant Nissin Foods Holdings Co., still a major producer and innovator of instant noodles to this day. The summit coincided with the birth centenary of late WINA founder, who died in 2007 at age 96, but whose legacy continues to be felt by WINA and instant noodle manufacturers worldwide. Nestlé Malaysia served as the host company. "For many years, instant noodles have been misperceived as a fast food with little nutritional value," said Mr Izham Mohamed, a WINA governor and executive director, Food Business Unit, for Nestlé Products Sdn Bhd. "That has changed dramatically thanks to innovations and improvements to the formulation, manufacturing, packaging and marketing of instant noodles over the years that has helped it move closer to assuming the status of an accepted staple diet for many people globally, in effect becoming an earth food," he said.

Not quite an instant idea A CENTURY AGO, Momofuku Ando was born in Taiwan, which in 1910 was a Japanese colony. As a young man he dabbled in retail, selling amongst other things fabrics, engine parts and socks, and ran philanthropic organisations, and was for the most part a mediocre businessman. An avowed 'late bloomer', Mr Ando developed his contribution to the realm of ready meals in his late 40s. In the spring of 1958, after a year of experimenting in his garden shed, Mr Ando came up with samples of instant noodles. In The Story of the Invention of Instant Ramen, an autobiography published in 2002, Mr Ando recalls when the idea of making ramen more accessible to more people came to him. He relates how whilst walking through the rubble-strewn streets of Osaka, when post-war Japan was still ravaged by food shortages and poverty, he "... saw a line 20, 30 metres long in front of a dimly lit stall from which clouds of steam were steadily rising." "People dressed in shabby clothes shivered in the cold whilst waiting for their turn. The person who was with me said they were lined up for a bowl of ramen," he wrote. "I realised that people were willing to wait patiently just for a bowl of ramen." The experience also convinced him that "peace will come to the world when the people have enough to eat." Still for Mr Ando, ordinary, mass-produced noodles were not the solution. Using a second-hand noodle-making machine and a large wok, he "... allowed the noodles to soak up the soup on the outer layer." After watching his wife cook tempura, it dawned on Mr Ando that the noodles could both cook and dry by flash-frying them. Adding hot water rehydrated the noodles to a consistency that was acceptable and palatable in just a few minutes. This method became the basis for all instant noodle production and 'Chikin Ramen', the first instant ramen with a chicken-flavoured broth. Convenience becomes a virtue IRONICALLY, WHEN the chicken-flavoured ramen was launched, it was considered a luxury item since a pack sold for 35 yen, at a time when Japanese grocery stores sold fresh soba and udon noodles at one-sixthNi?os