Use Your Noodle

So rarely do we know the names of men who have laboured to provide the most ingenious of everyday items. Ever more rarely do we note their passing.

Let starving students and others too poor or too lazy to cook a decent meal take a moment to remember a man whose invention has kept millions round the world fed:

The inventor of instant noodles, Momofuku Ando, has died in Japan, aged 96, of a heart attack.

Mr Ando was born in Taiwan in 1910 and moved to Japan in 1933, founding Nissin Food Products Co after World War II to provide cheap food for the masses.

His most famous product, Cup Noodle, was released in 1971.

Its taste and ease of preparation - adding hot water to dried noodles in a waterproof polystyrene container - have made it popular around the world.

Mr Ando said the inspiration for his product came when he saw people lining up to buy bowls of hot ramen noodle soup at a black market stall during the food shortages after World War II.

A lesson to us all: privation is oft one of man's greatest inspirations.

Source: BBC