The Ramen King and I: How the Inventor of Instant Noodles Fixed My Love Life (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This funny and idiosyncratic Japanese-fast-food memoir and quasi-spiritual autobiography from NPR commentator Raskin contains at its core, despite its oddball title, a deeply human story. The author grew up on Long Island and attended Wharton business school after college, which led to an internship in Japan and a life-long connection with the country. Over the years, Raskin also got involved with a number of women, without maintaining fidelity or forming a permanent attachment. Relocation to the West Coast and numerous Internet hookups eventually led to therapy and a fellowship, where he began to accept his sexual compulsivity and met the mentor who recommended finding some form of Higher Power. Raskin's unorthodox choice of Momofuku Ando, the nonagenarian inventor of instant ramen and Nissin Food Products chairman, led to several futile attempts to contact and meet him. The result is a painfully humane and hilariously candid journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance. At first, the book's intentions aren't explicit, the structure is near confusing, and the narrator's crisis feels shallow. But the various strands eventually weave together into a satisfying whole that becomes a quirky, unique memoir. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The Washington Post

From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Carolyn See Musing on this book -- over a bowl of ramen -- it occurs to me that many men prefer to have more than one wife per life. The question -- after "Should I add bok choy or fried garlic as garnish?" -- is, "How should societies accommodate that preference?" In parts of India and Mexico and the Middle East, in wild and woolly parts of Utah and New Mexico, polygamy is smiled upon. Even in parts of Western Europe, a man's juggling of multiple partners is not held against him. Maybe, when you think about it, America is the only place where strict monogamy is taken seriously, but the divorce rate here is pretty awe-inspiring. What is it with us? Our Puritan heritage? Another way of placing ourselves on the moral high ground? (We know how well that turns out . . .) Many men -- not all! -- take a wife, then split, feel just terrible about it, take another wife, split, feel bad about it, and so on. But a sizable number prefer not to settle down at all. They work at being frivolous; they're locked into the glamour of the hunt. Mention commitment, and their flesh begins to crawl. So it is with Andy Raskin in this wacky, oddly endearing memoir. Until his late 30s, he obsessed over beautiful girls, but he can't have one without having another one to play off the first. He's not happy unless he's cheating. (But he's not happy when he is cheating, either.) He puts personal ads on Craigslist. He has so many women, he can't remember their names. Theoretically, he wants to be a grown-up; in real life, he can't stand the idea. He wants to get as far away from his life as a nice Jewish boy raised on Long Island can. Besides his fixation on women, he falls in love with Japanese culture, which happens to be on the other side of the world. He loves samurai movies, Japanese comics, the Japanese language (which he learns), Japanese girls and Japanese cuisine (particularly fermented squid). He jumps from job to job, girl to girl, sushi bar to noodle joint. Many guys might think of this as an ideal life, but Raskin feels bad about it. Indeed, he feels so desperate about cheating on his girlfriends that he ends up in something like a 12-step program to modify his dating habits. And in a move that parallels what happens in the movie "You Kill Me," in which Ben Kingsley chooses the Golden Gate Bridge as his Higher Power, Raskin chooses Momofuku Ando, the Japanese magnate who invented instant ramen. No matter that he and Raskin have never met or that Ando was in his 90s living in Osaka. Raskin's sponsor suggests that he write a series of journal entries to the old gentleman, recording each and every time the specter of sexual misbehavior comes upon him. In addition, the sponsor extracts a promise from the author that he will remain chaste for 60 days. Ando is already something of a self-defined sage, having written such books as "Conception of a Fantastic Idea," "How to Escape From Difficulty" and "How to Live Happily to One Hundred" -- a goal he missed by just four years. Raskin, a freelance journalist who happily -- except for sex -- gives way to his obsessions, sets out to discover all he can about Ando, as well as himself. He travels to Osaka more than once, trying to meet Ando. He visits the Instant Ramen Invention Museum, which is just about what it sounds like. He reads two versions of Ando's autobiography. He takes note when Ando writes that he himself has done his share of "shameful" things. It turns out that Momofuku Ando, far from being a model of adulthood and fidelity, has failed repeatedly in business, been jailed twice, had three wives with a child from each marriage. Not only that, he was stingy with his child support and disowned his elder son. But nobody's perfect, as Raskin realizes even before he attends Ando's funeral in an Osaka baseball stadium. Meanwhile, through his journal entries to Ando, Raskin comes to recognize his own relentlessly scolding inner voice: "YOU SHOULD JUST CUT PROCESSED SUGARS FROM YOUR DIET THE WAY YOUR MOTHER HAS. IT'S THAT SIMPLE." Or, "YOU SHOULD JUST HUNKER DOWN AND WRITE SOME STORIES ABOUT BIG COMPANIES. YOU SHOULD NEVER QUIT A JOB BEFORE YOU HAVE A NEW JOB." Gradually, he realizes that this pitiless voice has kept him from committing to a relationship. He also recognizes the voice as having come from the mouths of his parents, but really it has descended through generations. The author eventually gets eighty-sixed from his favorite sushi bar and tells us a lot about noodles (although I would have liked to know, once and for all, the philosophical differences among soba, udon, ramen and instant ramen). He revels in all things Japanese and gets his dating life in some kind of order. But if he'd grown up in pre-revolutionary China, parts of Mexico, India, etc., he might have saved himself all kinds of grief.
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Gotham (May 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592404448
• ISBN-13: 978-1592404445
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #65,412 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Literary Snack, May 21, 2009

By	Kat "kttykat16" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

(What's this?)

The Ramen King and I is a fun, engaging read, a highly personal memoir about love, sex, and one man's relationship to...Momofuku Ando. In The Ramen King and I, American journalist Andy Raskin recounts how he made instant-ramen inventor Momofuku Ando his spiritual guide - despite never actually having met the man -- while attempting to discover why he sabotages relationships with women. Thoughout the book, Raskin is unable to maintain healthy long-term relationships with the women in his life. He juggles girlfriends on multiple continents and falls in and out of love in the time it takes to boil water for a serving of Nissin Chikin ramen.

Raskin travels to Osaka to visit the Instant Ramen Museum and hopefully meet his hero/quasi-god. Part travelogue, part mystery as he begins to uncover the secrets of Ando's life, part Japanese food porn, and part self-help, The Ramen King and I is an engaging book that made me laugh and cry at the same time. I especially enjoyed Raskin's accounts of his travels in Japan, description of Japanese Culture, and his visits to many restaurants.

I would highly recommend this book as a "fun read" for anyone who loves a little soap opera-esque drama, Japanese Culture, and food porn.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Like Ramen, This Book is Strangely Appealing, May 11, 2009

By	M. T. Vancampen (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

(What's this?)

A book about a man's past relationship woes--in particular, his inability to remain faithful to women--hardly seemed like the kind of book that would interest me. Similarly, before I tried them, blocks of instant noodles w/ foil packets of spices hardly seemed like delicious--or even edible--cuisine. To my surprise, my initial judgment of both was wrong and both are quite appealing.

Raskin turns out to be a charming and skilled narrator. He draws the reader into his story quite skillfully. Before we know much about him, we are reading strangely intimate letters written to Momofuku Ando, the inventor of Instant Ramen. At first, there is no explanation, other than an apparent fascination with Japanese culture, why these letters are being written or why in the world they are addressed to Ando. Discovering the answer to this question is part of the appeal of this book. So, I will not reveal it here.

Raskin goes beyond letter-writing and begins a quest to meet Ando that involves trips to Japan and visits to the Ramen Museum. He achieves just the right balance between his personal memoir, biography of Ando, and fascinating insights into Japanese culture. What the reader is left with is a mixture of ingredients that form an entertaining and appealing whole. As with Ramen, initial impressions may generate misgivings and doubts. But, don't let these misgivings stop you from enjoying this delightful and strangely appealing read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Noodle king to help fix love life? Definite must read!, August 18, 2009

By	rry007 (Raleigh, N.C) - See all my reviews

Journalist Andy Raskin details his account of trying to meet Momofuku Ando, inventor of instant noodles, in an effort to figure out his love life. I've never read a memoir quite like this one, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not only do we get a glimpse of Raskin through writing this book, but he also lets the reader see his intimate letters to Ando. The premise for writing to Ando is revealed in the book (I don't want to spoil it), but it is crazy, whacky, and totally in line with the rest of the book.

Not only does Raskin write to Ando, (the letters are never actually mailed) but actually flies to Japan on a whim to try to meet Ando. He documents his actual experience going to the Nissin headquarters and the tour of the museum. All of this is for Raskin to figure out why his love life is the way it is, and how to fix it. At first, I didn't like him because of how he treated women, but as the book progressed, I couldn't help but root for Raskin. He's honest with his flaws and shortcomings. He's real, he's funny, and his book is definitely memorable.

I loved the format of the book, and how he wove his life in with the letters to Ando. My favorite, though, were the 'notes' that he capitalized. It was truly a pleasure reading this book, and I wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone who wants to read something different and quirky.