Noodles: The Beginning

Noodles, the delicious long strips of wheat (typically) that make up so many absolutely delicious dishes, date back all the way to the Eastern Han period in China (25-220 CE), and they eventually spread throughout the world, taking us by storm to create the wonderful dishes we have today.

Over the years, noodles have become an important part of our culture and society. It all started in China with the creation of noodles, and Marco Polo (as we think) brought the concept of noodles over to Europe, breaking noodles into two categories as they evolved over time. Asian Noodles, the long stringy noodles we all know and love, and European Noodles, essentially pasta which is pretty much anything but the long and stringy kind. They evolved from there to create dishes like spaghetti, ravioli, farfalle, linguine, pesto, etc. on the European side of things. Then, on the other hand, they have got lo mein, yakisoba, pho, etc. though due to Japan's isolation to the rest of the continent, they created their own way of things with the wheat-y udon noodles, and the instant ramen we know and love today.