“From Desperation to Innovation: How Instant Ramen Became a Lifeline in a World on the Edge of Starvation”

Yet despite his company’s extraordinary success, Momofuku Ando never forgot his original goal of ending world hunger. In 1997, he founded the World Instant Noodles Association, an organization dedicated to distributing instant noodles in areas ravaged by war, poverty, and natural disasters. These efforts came full-circle in 2011 following the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, when instant noodles were used to feed thousands of displaced Japanese citizens.

Momofuku Ando’s died in 2007 at the age of 97, a beloved national hero with two museums dedicated to his life and inventions. His funeral, held in a baseball stadium and officiated by 34 clergy members, was attended by two former prime ministers, with Yasuhiro Nakasone delivering a eulogy in which he praised Ando as “the creator of a culinary culture that postwar Japan can be proud of.”

And that is a legacy worth raising a glass – or a noodle cup – to.

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