The Ramen King and I: How the Inventor of Instant Noodles Fixed My Love Life by Andy Raskin

From the Publisher

For three days in January 2007, the most-emailed article in The New York Times was "Appreciations: Mr. Noodle," an editorial noting the passing, at age 96, of billionaire 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 Raskin's memoir about how despair-and a series of bizarre adventures at Japanese restaurants-led him to confront the truth of his romantic past, and how Ando became his unlikely spiritual guide. Through letters ostensibly penned to the culinary sage, Raskin reveals a relationship history plagued by infidelity, jealousy, and betrayal. After devouring Ando's essays (with titles such as "Peace Follows from a Full Stomach" and "Mankind is Noodlekind"), he sets out to meet the food pioneer-and to discover the secret to a committed relationship.

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.
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Kirkus Reviews

NPR 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

What People Are Saying

Pamela Druckerman
"More raw than sushi . . . Raskin's journey is bizarre, enlightening, and delicious."--(Pamela Druckerman, author of Lust in Translation)

Pamela Drucker
More raw than sushi... Raskin's journey is bizarre, enlightening, and delicious. (Pamela Drucker, author of Lust In Translation)

Po Bronson
I ate this book in one sitting. Okay, three sittings. What I mean is I loved it. It won me over from the start, and when it wasn't making me hungry it made me think. Apparently I, too, battle against the Fundamental Misunderstanding of Humanity.

Arthur Golden
"Andy Raskin has crafted something here that is much more than a clever and entertaining story. He has brought to life a number of curiously vivid Japanese subcultures, while at the same time setting out on a quest for something deep within himself, and finding it. Only the very best comedy can offer us honest-to-goodness meaning and The Ramen King and I, with the emotional depth to be found beneath its quirky humor, is certainly one of them."

Ruth Ozeki
To say The Ramen King and I is a wonderful, beautifully crafted memoir about sex and fidelity and instant noodles only hints at the humor and humanity of this book. I couldn't stop laughing, even though it was also sad, in that being-human-is-sometimes-a-sad-proposition kind of way. Andy Raskin has an insider's perspective on male desire and Japanese culture, and a keen eye for the delicate, heartbreaking absurdities of both. (Ruth Ozeki, author of My Year of Meats)

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