The noodle is a ubiquitous part of our global food landscape, and we might be tempted to think of noodles and pasta as basic, simple, straightforward, even mundane. But the multicultural and culinary variety of noodle types and preparations is positively dizzying (and, of course, delicious). Such diversity, along with the significance of noodles or pasta in the traditional cuisines of many nations, at least six of which claim their invention, makes the history of noodles seem as tangled as a big plate of spaghetti. But that historical richness and detail showcases the development of our global society over the past several thousand years.
Didn’t Marco Polo bring noodles to Italy from China? Or wasn’t pasta eaten in Etruscan Italy? The myths of the origins of pasta are numerous and durable. Most, including these two, have been proven completely false, their continued popularity due to combinations of elegant mythical simplicity, apparent common sense, and, not least, points of national pride.
Let’s start with the basics: what is a noodle, what is pasta? Well, in the present day, it’s a very easy slide back and forth from spaghetti to soba, to Chinese fěnsī, to Indian seviyam, to lasagne, to ravioli, to wontons and gyoza, to Russian pelmeni and Jewish kreplach, to German schupfnudeln and spätzle from South Tyrol, to British soup dumplings and Jewish matzah balls! And couscous is a close relative.