Tributes pour in for late Malaysian founder of beloved Mamee Monster snack
- Pang Chin Hin who died on Saturday at the age of 96 launched the crunchy noodle snack Mamee Monster in 1974
- Malaysian businessman is also credited with creating Mister Potato chips, Double Decker shrimp crackers, Corntoz corn snacks and Mamee Chef instant noodles
Pang Chin Hin, the Malaysian businessman behind the widely-loved Mamee Monster snack, died on Saturday at the age of 96.
The founder of Mamee-Double Deckers Sdn Bhd, Pang also created Mister Potato chips, Double Decker shrimp crackers, Corntoz corn snacks, Mamee Chef instant noodles and many more food products.
Then, in a moment of inspiration that would turn the company’s fortunes around, Pang’s son Tan Sri Pang Tee Chew noticed rubber tappers eating uncooked instant noodles straight from the pack, said the Mamee website.
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“My father is a very savvy person, so he worked out a way to season the noodles, while I marketed the finished product, aiming it at kids. The Mamee name and the blue monster mascot were chosen because they are easy to remember.”
Following the news of Pang’s death, the official Mamee Monster account posted an illustration of Pang and the famous blue monster.
“Thank you dad,” reads the blue-and-yellow Mamee font in Malay. “Your legacy will live on.”
Thousands of tributes have also poured in from online users mourning the death of the “legend”.
“You’ve made a small yet significant part of my childhood,” wrote one Malaysian Twitter user. “Thank you, sir. RIP.”
Many people shared fond memories of sharing the snack with their friends back in school, especially those born in the 1980s and 1990s.
“We even bought them in a bunch, cracked them and poured all the flavouring into the bowl while watching our evening cartoons. Thank you for the memories.”
Some related stories of “smuggling” Mamee snacks home to try to avoid detection by strict parents, or unconventional choices regarding the seasoning packet.
“I remember kena rotan (getting caned) because I poured the serbuk (powder) directly into my mouth,” joked another Facebook user.
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Others remembered buying Mamee snack packets in bulk to collect Transformers and Yu-Gi-Oh merchandise: “Thanks for the memories of me buying Mamee [to] collect [the] Yu-Gi-Oh puzzle.”
Pierre Pang, one of Pang’s grandsons and the current Mamee-Double Decker group executive director, also took to Instagram to express his sorrow, posting a carousel of old photos of the snack visionary.
Pang leaves behind three sons and three daughters with his late wife.
