Almost every college student is very familiar with Momofuku Ando’s revolutionary invention: Instant ramen. Born 105 years ago on March 5 as Wu Baifu, Ando whipped up the delicious staple in his 40s and the rest is history.
According to this years’ feature in The Washington Post, Ando assigned a lore to his story, having purportedly invented the noodles in order to accommodate those who had to wait in long food lines. Vox.com was even able to snatch a snippet from an employee handbook wherein Ando waxed philosophical:
“Peace will come when people have food.”
Ramen has become a college trope of sorts, supporting the myriad hungry students whose bank accounts waver under the stress of tuition and loans. There is admittedly some peace of mind to come from more food for less money. For those who’ve had to eke out a semester on ramen, the noodles’ affect is perhaps as profound as Ando suggests in the handbook.
“Instant ramen helped me make it through my first year of college living on campus,” Ryan McLaughlin (senior, Communication Studies) said. “It was nice being able to stock up on food that was cheap but still tasty. I really think instant ramen and college go hand-in-hand.”
And McLaughlin isn’t the only one who thinks so. Several students weighed in during a Signal-exclusive video posted to our Facebook. Happy birthday, Momofuku Ando– from every college student who has you to thank for making it through tough financial times.