National Noodle Day is on October 6 and we are getting ready to celebrate by doing the best thing possible with noodles… eating them! Can you believe that noodles have been around for over 4,000 years?
Noodles are popular all over the world and range in shape from flat, to round, to twisted, to sheets, to tubes, and many more. They can be made from rice, buckwheat, wheat, with or without eggs, and even now from zucchini.
- 2000 BC – Noodles were invented in China.
- 1000 BC – Noodles have been created from flour and water since 1000 BC and today they are more popular than ever
- 25 BC – The first mention of noodles in historical records is in a book from the Eastern Han period that dates from between 25 and 220 BC
- 9th Century – Wheat noodles in Japan (udon) were adapted from a Chinese recipe by a Buddhist monk as early as the 9th century.
- 1200s – Noodles become popular in Europe, especially Italy. Some now credit Marco Polo with bringing them back from China, though he was not the first. Arab traders may have brought them first.
- 1789 – Thomas Jefferson returns to the US after several years in France and brings back two cases of pasta.
- 1958 – Although originated in China, the first instant ramen noodle was created in Japan.
- Japan’s Nissin Food, in 1958, took Chinese wheat noodles, added a few more ingredients and brought ramen into existence. This invention was described as the greatest Japanese food invention of the 20th century
- 2002 – archaeologists along the Yellow River in China found an earthenware bowl containing some 4000-year-old noodles that had been well preserved.
- Because of its convenience, instant ramen was initially 6 times as expensive as fresh noodles.
- The word noodle derives from the German word nudel.
- Found in regions all over the world, noodles are made from a variety of flours. In Asian cuisine, root vegetables, such as yams and potatoes, beans, rice, wheat, and buckwheat are all found in a wide assortment of noodles. Europeans make most of their pasta from durum or semolina flour, though potato noodles a enjoyed as well.
- Australians consume more than 18 million kilograms (39.7 million pounds) of noodles every year – that’s almost one kilogram (2.2 pounds) per person!
- In Japan, it is considered good form to loudly slurp your noodles as a way of telling your host that you are enjoying the meal.
- Noodles symbolize longevity in China.
- Citizens of China consume more than 46 billion packets of ramen each year.
- It would cost you only about $140 a year if you ate ramen for every meal.
- By federal law, a noodle must contain 5.5 percent egg solids to be called a noodle.
- The first noodles ever consumed in space were instant ramen noodles.
- Ramen is the Japanese word for Chinese “lo mein.”
- There’s a whole museum in Yokohama, Japan dedicated to Cup Noodles.
- Pho is pronounced ‘fuh’ not ‘foh’. Contrary to its spelling, the Vietnamese beef noodle soup is pronounced ‘fuh’ as the dish was influenced by French colonies, and the name was derived from the French dish “pot-au-feu”.
- Did you know that hot spicy ramen from Chekafe is a cure for a cold?
Sources:
Restaurant Choice
Yummy
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