But you may not know who invented it, not to mention the instant noodle association in the world, which holds a global summit every two years. The 2004 World Instant Noodles Summit was held in Shanghai a few days ago. Ando is the president of the World Instant Noodles Association and the inventor of instant noodles. Ando is 94 years old, but he can't say anything. When he met the reporter, he first said that he ate instant noodles every day and played golf twice a week. The escort said that this is what the old man must say to every visitor. People think that instant noodles and exercise are two magic weapons for his health and longevity.
1958, Ando invented the world's first package of instant noodles-"Chicken Spicy Noodles". At that time, he was 48 years old, and the inspiration for developing instant noodles began as early as 1945.
After World War II, Japan was seriously short of food. Once in a while, when Bai Fu Ando passed by a Lamian Noodles stall, he saw people standing in a long line of twenty or thirty meters in the cold wind, and he couldn't help but have a great interest in Lamian Noodles. He thinks this is a huge demand from the public. But instead of developing, he weaves, raises silkworms, manages warehouses, sells slide projectors, makes salt, fishes, runs schools, develops nutritious food, and has been in prison. It was not until his credit portfolio went bankrupt when he was chairman that he decided to shift his career focus to "food". Later, he invented the word "eat enough to make the world peaceful"-eat enough to make the world peaceful. As the corporate philosophy of Nissin Food Company, it also stems from the experience during this period.
1958 In the spring, Yasuo Ando built a humble hut of 10 square meter in the backyard of Ikeda, a big vendor, as a laboratory for instant noodles. He found a Japanese noodle maker and bought a China wok with a diameter of 1 m, a bag of18kg flour, cooking oil and so on. And began to develop instant noodles.
The truth realized through repeated development
The instant noodles envisioned by Ando are instant noodles that can be eaten immediately as long as hot water is added. He set five goals: first, the taste is not only delicious but also insatiable. Secondly, it can become a regular product of family kitchen with high preservation. Third, it is simple and does not require cooking. Fourth, the price is cheap. Fifth, because it is food, it must be safe and hygienic.
At first, he was completely in the groping stage. Ando got up at 5 a.m. and got into the cabin immediately. He studies until one or two in the middle of the night, and the average sleep time is less than four o'clock every day. This kind of day lasted for a whole year without a day off.
There is a lot of knowledge in the preparation of noodles. He tried his best, but the effect was not good. Throwing and throwing, doing and doing, the whole development has become a repetitive process, and there is no hope. Later, he finally realized an experience: food pays attention to balance, and the development of food is the process of pursuing and discovering this unique and wonderful balance.
Inspired by family.
After some efforts, although the preservation problem was solved, dried noodles could not be quickly restored to a bowl of Chinese food. Later, Mrs Ando's cooking inspired him. There are countless holes in the dough of fried food, just like sponges. This is because the skin of noodles is blended with water, and the water inside will disperse during frying, forming "holes". Add boiling water and it will soon soften. In this way, the problems of preservation and cooking can be solved at the same time by soaking noodles in soup to make them tasty, then frying them and drying them. Excited, he called this method "instant hot oil drying method" and obtained the patent of instant noodles.
At that time, chickens raised in Ando's backyard were often used for cooking. One day, while Mrs Ando was cooking, the dying chicken suddenly jumped up and frightened her son Acer. Since then, Acer has not only stopped eating chicken, but also stopped eating chicken rice that it used to like. However, one day, mother-in-law Ando put chicken soup in Lamian Noodles, and her son actually ate very well. At that time, Ando decided to make noodles with chicken soup. Ando said that in retrospect, the choice at that time was still very reasonable. After instant noodles entered the international market, no country that doesn't eat chicken has been found.
It was exported before the domestic market was opened.
When the instant noodles entered the trial production stage, Ando distributed the trial products to acquaintances all over the country, and got the evaluation that "it is not as delicious as the existing Lamian Noodles, and it is very convenient and can become a new commodity".
After that, Ando entrusted a friend to send samples to the United States to test the reaction. As a result, the United States requested to order 500 cases. At that time, the production of commodities was still in the manual operation stage, and it took one and a half months to complete the exportable commodities. At the moment when it is impossible to predict whether it can be sold in China, instant noodles have begun to be exported.
Unintentional initiative
At the beginning of 1960, similar products with the brand of chicken Lamian Noodles appeared in the market. The product names and designs are very similar, and there are many inferior products. Ando sued the local judge for violating the anti-unfair competition law, and made a judgment in March of the following year, temporarily punishing the other party to stop using similar packaging designs. Then, he sued other 13 companies that used the Lamian Noodles trademark of chicken for the same reason. A month later, the newspaper published the news that "Lamian Noodles Chicken Fake Group was arrested".
At that time, many manufacturers poured into the instant noodle business. By 1965, there were too many manufacturers to make accurate statistics, and the quality declined obviously. 1965, due to counterfeiting and quality problems, Ando decided to indicate the production date on all products. At that time, there was no food with production date in the world, and Ando inadvertently created the world's best.
Put the noodles in the paper cup.
1966, Ando visited Europe and America for the first time, hoping to introduce instant noodles to the world. He took the chicken Lamian Noodles to the supermarket in Los Angeles for several buyers to taste, but they shook their heads in embarrassment. It turns out that noodles have no bowls. Later, I found a paper cup, so I divided the chicken Lamian Noodles into two halves and put it in the paper cup, filled it with boiling water, and they ate it with forks. After eating, I threw the cup into the trash can. Therefore, Ando had the idea of developing "instant noodles in cups" in his mind.
The first and most important thing is the container problem. Ando decided to choose a new type of foam, which is light in weight, good in heat insulation and low in cost. The shape of the cup is the size that can be picked up by one hand. When I was officially ready to make it, I found that there was no manufacturer in Japan that could make this kind of cup. As a last resort, Ando established "Nissin Dato" (now Nissin Kasei) through merger, and adopted the technology of Dato company in the United States to start container manufacturing by himself. The final container far exceeds the standards of the US Food and Drug Administration, which is an epoch-making technological innovation, and Ando is quite proud of it.
On the plane back from the United States, Ando found that the top cover of the pistachio aluminum container given by the stewardess was a sealed cover made of paper and aluminum foil. At that time, he was worried about how to preserve instant noodles for a long time and wanted to find an airtight material. The aluminum cover of instant noodles in the cup was fixed at that moment.
The real explosion effect of instant noodles in the cup was caused by the Asami Villa incident in February 1972. In the live TV broadcast, the mobile players who surrounded the villa in the heavy snow were eating steaming instant noodles with cups, and the picture was repeatedly close-up. After the live broadcast, the sales of instant noodles in cups were detonated, and the demand was in short supply.