Momofuku Ando: Google celebrates creator of instant ramen

Google is celebrating the 105th birthday of the man behind instant ramen, Momofuku Ando, with a dedicated doodle.

The Taiwanese-Japanese entrepreneur was first inspired to develop instant ramen when he realised one of the most pressing issues facing post-WWII Japan was hunger, after watching people queue for hours for a bowl of ramen.

Ando, who once said that “people can only be content when there is enough food,” was determined to help end the hunger in Japan and spent months developing a fast and cheap method for creating palatable instant ramen.In 1957 Ando discovered that by flash-frying ramen noodles in tempura oil, tiny holes would appear in the noodles, causing them to cook almost instantly once they are covered with hot water.

Ando continued to develop his discovery and in 1971 created Cup Noodles, before eventually inventing “Space Ram” – instant noodles to be eaten in space – when in his nineties.

The Doodle appears on Google’s homepage across the US, Latin America, parts of Europe and Africa, Australia and Japan.