Aug 14, 2021 (AP Archive) - Instant noodles have plenty to say about Japanese traits of inventiveness, risk-taking and an openness to adapting and upgrading foreign influences that helped Japan recover after World War II to become an economic, cultural — and gastronomic — titan.
Some of those same traits have, these past two weeks, also helped Japan pull off the improbable feat — or folly, the jury is out — of hosting the Olympic Games in the midst of the pandemic.
Allowing 11,000 athletes to come from around the world, some bringing the coronavirus with them, testified to Japanese resilience, hospitality and flexibility.
Now back to ramen, with — excuse the pun — a potted history.
The Japanese cribbed noodles from neighbour China, where they are called "lamian."
Over the years, Japanese chefs elevated ramen into an art, a taste bud-blowing spectrum of flavors, textures and choices.
In short, Japan absorbed a foreign influence and improved on it. The same would later be true with automobiles, gadgetry and — for fans of "Demon Slayer," "One Piece" and other mangas — cartoons, to name just those few.
Back to noodles, though.
Horrified by food shortages that ravaged post-war Japan, impoverished former credit union worker Momofuku Ando hit upon the idea of turning surplus American wheat into ramen that hungry people could prepare with just hot water and a few minutes.
Ando's eureka moment came while watching his wife deep-fry tempura.
That gave birth to the idea of flash-frying noodles to dehydrate them. Ando's first instant noodles were launched in 1958.
Cup Noodles followed in 1971.
