A Taste of Home: Miki Lantis celebrates 50 years of sharing Japanese noodles with Terry

TERRY — When Miki Lantis first arrived in Terry in 1973, she could never have imagined that half a century later her name would be synonymous with one of the town’s most beloved traditions: Her now-famous Japanese noodles.

Lantis’ journey began when she left her home country of Japan with her husband, Bruce, and their young son, Waylon, bound for a small town in eastern Montana that would become her new home.

She said the adjustment, especially in terms of food, was “pretty terrible.”

The grocery store shelves held little that resembled the foods she was accustomed to cooking with. The only familiar items were a brand of soy sauce she wasn’t fond of and long-grain rice, which was much different from the short, white rice she was used to.

Fortunately, she was able to get by thanks to a