Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant noodles has died in Japan, aged 96.

In 1948, Mr Ando founded what was to become Nissin Food Company, which now sells roughly 85 billion servings of Cup Noodles every year. The Taiwanese born entrepreneur started selling noodles as a reaction to Japan’s food shortage after World War II, which saw the Ministry of Health advising people to eat bread imported from America.

Mr Ando wondered why noodles, which were far more familiar to Japanese people, were not the country’s main food ration and was told that noodle companies would not be able to cope with supply needs. So on 25 August 1958, after years of trying, Mr Ando perfected a method that would allow noodles to be mass-produced, prepared cheaply, sold and then re-cooked instantly. All he did was flash-fry, and then dry them. The rest is history.

Over the years Nissin’s noodles have been praised by Japanese Prime Ministers, fed to astronauts onboard the Discovery space shuttle and had a museum in Osaka, Japan devoted to them. Their positive effect on world hunger even led to debate about whether Mr Ando should receive the Nobel Peace Prize, something that never came into fruition.
Mr Ando died of heart failure in a hospital in Osaka on 5 January. He had previously said that the secret of his long life was down to playing golf regularly and eating Chikin Ramen (the original flavour he invented) every day.

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