Do you remember research projects for which you spend hours researching and writing and right after you publish, you find a new source that contradicts what you’ve written? Well, that happened to me last week.
For National Spaghetti Day (January 4), I brought you some interesting history and fun facts about spaghetti. One of the things mentioned was a tale often told about how Marco Polo and company brought the noodle to Italy from China. I had three different resources (including the “Oxford Companion to Food”) mention the “China-Spaghetti Connection,” but a sharp-eyed reader said “NO!”
I’d rather be accurate than right, so I did more research on the difference between pasta and noodles, and will now set the record straight (with help from the Canadian Wheat Industry).
Although we tend to use the terms interchangeably, “pasta” and “noodles” are NOT the same thing. Here’s how they are different:
PASTA is made with coarser and sturdier durum semolina and NOODLES are made with common wheat flour (also rice flour and mung bean flour).
NOODLES are typically cut from a rolled sheet of dough while PASTA is extruded through a mold or dye into many fanciful shapes (macaroni, ziti, rigatoni, etc).
PASTA is sold dry after which it is cooked by boiling or baking, but NOODLES can be sold fresh or dried (as in instant ramen!) and boiled, steamed, or fried and eaten hot or cold.
Finally, NOODLES should be bendy with degrees of softness or firmness, and PASTA should be al dente (to the teeth) or a little chewy.
NOODLES originate in Chinese cuisine. In Episode 31: What’s in Your Pantry?, we explore the origins of instant ramen and how this global phenomenon is tied to Chinese immigrants in Japan (it’s worth a listen!)
By contrast, references to PASTA can be found as early as the 1st Century in the writings of Horace, and a proto-recipe for lasagna dates to the 2nd Century.
So where does the Marco Polo story come from? While the man did travel to China and back again, he is not responsible for inspiring pasta in Italy. Seems that more than a few of us where taken in by a marketing spiel from a Canadian spaghetti company circa 1930s. I apologize for inadvertently perpetuating the myth.
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