Today, March 5th marks the birthday
of Taiwanese / Japanese businessman Momufuku Ando.
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 the Japanese.
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
to perfect his flash-frying method, Ando marketed the first package of
precooked instant noodles.
