The Ramen King and I

For three days in January 2007, the most e-mailed article in The New. York Times was ?Appreciations: Mr. Noodle,? an editorial noting the. passing, at age ninety-six, of Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant. ramen. The very existence of the noodle inventor came as a shock to. many, but not to Andy Raskin, who had spent nearly three years trying. to meet Ando. Why?. To fix the problems that plagued his love life. The Ramen King and I is the true story of Raskin?s colossal struggle to. confront the truth of his dating life, and how Momofuku Ando served. as his unlikely spiritual guide. Raskin?s quest leads him to some unexpected. places?from the Wharton School and Kmart headquarters to. the Instant Ramen Invention Museum and a funeral in a baseball stadium?. and he eats a lot of Japanese food. Along the way, he?s spurred. on by cinematic samurai warriors, manga-based chefs, and the author. Haruki Murakami. Charting Raskin?s pursuit of the elusive Ando, The Ramen King and I. unfolds partly through frank, revealing letters addressed to the culinary. sage. After devouring Ando?s books and essays, with titles such. as Peace Follows from a Full Stomach and Mankind Is Noodlekind,. Raskin ultimately discovers that he has been suffering from what Ando. identified?just before inventing instant ramen?as the Fundamental. Misunderstanding of Humanity. A unique memoir of hunger in its many. forms, The Ramen King and I is about how we become slaves to our. desires, and how to break free.