The word noodle derives from the German word nudel.
Noodles are made by rolling unleavened dough out and cutting into a variety of shapes. While long, flat noodles may seem to be the most common, they come in a variety of forms, names, and textures. Each kind of noodle will pair differently with different kinds of sauces and meals.
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 are enjoyed as well.
In 2002, archaeologists along the Yellow River in China found an earthenware bowl containing some 4000-year-old noodles which had been well preserved.
- Australians consume more than 36 million pounds of noodles every year – that’s over two 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.
- Noodles have been created from flour and water since 1000BC and today they are more popular than ever.
- It was believed that noodles were first made from millet, a kind of cereal grain in China, at around 2000 B.C. Later it was found out that noodles originated from a desert region in Central Asia, the Tarim Basin in China’s Xinjian province.
- Wheat noodles in Japan (udon) were adapted from a Chinese recipe by a Buddhist monk as early as the 9th century.
- Instant noodles may be considered as an inexpensive food item today, but the fact is that they were once sold as luxury item.
- It would cost you only about $140 a year if you ate ramen for every meal.
- 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.
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