Written By Keerthi Karnam (Grade 9)
In India, everyone’s childhood revolves around Maggi Noodles. Regardless of your age, you must have tried Maggi at least once in your life. If you haven’t, go get yourself a bowl of these delicious noodles and chow them down. I am here to tell you about my favourite food: noodles.
China introduced noodles to the world. Chinese eat noodles as their regular food as we Indians have rice and chapatti. In most of the ancient Chinese dynasties, noodles were consumed and they were known by many different names. Noodles are prepared from wheat flour, small amount of all purpose flour and water. On birthdays and New Year celebrations, Chinese have a habit of eating noodles because of the saying “If u eat long noodles, you will live a long life.”
The earliest Chinese noodles, though, don’t appear as strands of dough — they were shaped into little bits, formed from bread dough, and thrown into a wok of boiling water. That kind of noodle, called mian pian, is still eaten. Noodles in China actually began with its tradition of bread, something that is still widely eaten across northern China.
Another early mention of noodles has been traced to the Jerusalem Talmud, dating back to the fifth century A.D., and was called itrium — and several centuries later, a string-like pasta called itrium made of semolina and dried before cooking is described by Syrian physicians.
Noodles have greatly evolved since ancient times. When noodles first reached Japan during the Heian period, around 800AD, the hybrid Chinese-Japanese dish known as ramen was introduced to Tokyo, Yokohama’s china town with the opening of a restaurant called Rai-Rai Ken around 1910. As Japan began to specialize in ramen-only shops – there are now over 30,000 across the country.
In Bangkok, a similar phenomenon took place. In the late 1930s, then prime minister, Plaek Phibunsongkhram, launched a national campaign called ‘Noodle is Your Lunch’ which promoted the country’s new signature dish using rice noodles.
Europe’s love affair with the noodle does seem to have come later. Spätzle noodles, traditionally made using spelt flour for its high gluten content, appeared in Germany in the early 16th century, and quickly spread to stria, Switzerland and Northern France.
I feel the best place to have noodles is at home. Nothing can beat instant noodles on a rainy day. As u can adjust the flavors to your liking there is no complaining. My mom really did not like instant noodles until I started cooking them myself. I add toppings such as chicken, eggs, cheese, garlic, spring onions and a few condiments like chilli oil and soy sauce to elevate the taste which made my mom like noodles.
Featured Image Courtesy – Cookerru
