The Ramen King and I: How the Inventor of Instant Noodles Fixed My Love Life
"Mankind is Noodlekind"\ 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. Ando's existence came as a shock to many, but not to Andy Raskin, who had spent three years trying to meet the noodle pioneer.\ The Ramen King and I is Raskin's funny and, at times, painfully honest memoir about confronting the truth of his dating life-with...
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"Mankind is Noodlekind" 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. Ando's existence came as a shock to many, but not to Andy Raskin, who had spent three years trying to meet the noodle pioneer. The Ramen King and I is Raskin's funny and, at times, painfully honest memoir about confronting the truth of his dating life-with Ando as his spiritual guide. Can instant ramen lead one to a committed relationship? And is sushi the secret to self-acceptance? A true tale of hunger in its many forms, The Ramen King and I is about becoming slaves to our desires and learning to break free. Publishers Weekly Told as both a narrative and series of letters to the inventor of instant ramen, Momofuku Ando, American writer and NPR regular Raskin haltingly plots his efforts to meet the billionaire food entrepreneur in the years before his 2007 death. Unfortunately, the fascinating story of the Ramen king is forced to compete with Raskin's women problems, which he thinks Ando can somehow solve. Raskin also takes time out to explain Japanese emphemera like the quirks of language, samurai movies, sushi etiquette and manga. Though he never mails his confessional letters, Raskin does fly to Japan to meet the aging legend, and winds up attending his funeral with thousands of others. Raskin's intentions are noble, but his careening trip through Japanese food culture will likely frustrate readers; on the other hand, it may strike Japanophiles just right, reproducing plenty of the eclectic and affectionate details that stick with travelers. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
\ Publishers WeeklyTold as both a narrative and series of letters to the inventor of instant ramen, Momofuku Ando, American writer and NPR regular Raskin haltingly plots his efforts to meet the billionaire food entrepreneur in the years before his 2007 death. Unfortunately, the fascinating story of the Ramen king is forced to compete with Raskin's women problems, which he thinks Ando can somehow solve. Raskin also takes time out to explain Japanese emphemera like the quirks of language, samurai movies, sushi etiquette and manga. Though he never mails his confessional letters, Raskin does fly to Japan to meet the aging legend, and winds up attending his funeral with thousands of others. Raskin's intentions are noble, but his careening trip through Japanese food culture will likely frustrate readers; on the other hand, it may strike Japanophiles just right, reproducing plenty of the eclectic and affectionate details that stick with travelers. \ Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.\ \ \ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsNPR commentator Raskin's laugh-out-loud memoir yields surprising insights about belatedly growing up in his mid-30s. The San Francisco-based author earned an MBA from Wharton, mastered the trombone, become fluent in Japanese and built a successful career in business, but he had never been faithful to a girlfriend. He cheated on women he thought he loved and developed an addiction to online dating and one-night stands. After realizing that this behavior was related to his feelings of depression, he joined a recovery group. His sponsor asked him to abstain from dating for 90 days and to write letters detailing his past sins to someone he saw as a godlike figure. He settled on a longtime object of his fascination: 94-year-old billionaire noodle-maker Momofuku Ando. Writing things down led Raskin to the understanding that his sexual impulses were sparked by conflicts with men, usually co-workers or his father, and that he compensated for feelings of failure by having trysts. Layering his memoir with vignettes about sushi chefs, young-adult graphic novels, Japanese reality-TV shows, embarrassing moments in his Long Island childhood and conversations with many of the women he dated, the author chronicles his life in a creative and comprehensive manner. Ando's story is an important element as well: Having read all of the noodle-maker's autobiographies, Raskin threads details from them throughout the book, along with some of his famous sayings ("Peace follows from a full stomach," etc.). After repeated unsuccessful attempts to set up an interview with Ando, the author embarked on a transatlantic pilgrimage to meet him with no appointment. Regardless of the outcome, he recognized that the point ofsuch a choice-indeed, the point of any decision-was really the power of knowing exactly what he wanted. Engaging portrait of a journey of self-discovery, leading to the liberating knowledge that joy and freedom often come from accepting limitations. Agent: Stuart Krichevsky/Stuart Krichevsky Agency\ \
