Today's Google Doodle Honors Instant Noodle Inventor Momofuku Ando

Today would have been the 105th birthday of Momofuku Ando, inventor of instant ramen and Cup Noodles, the college dorm room staple, and one of the quickest meals known to modern man.

Ando, a Taiwanese-Japanese businessman, founded Nissin Food Products Co., Ltd. in 1958. By that time, he was in his 40s. The cup of noodles was not an instant success, as Time notes: "[T]he road was not easy... Ando struggled to find the right balance and create noodles that were tasty but did not become mush when boiled. The secret, he learned from his wife, was to spray the noodles with chicken soup and then fry them in tempura oil."

Vox explains that Cup Noodles didn't hit the market until 1971, but were an immediate success.

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Ando was known for his sayings. His most famous: Mankind is noodlekind.

Momofuku Ando died in Osaka, Japan on January 5, 2007 at the age of 96.

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