A noodle is a thin strip of pasta, usually cut or extruded from some kind of dough. It is the basic unit in dishes like spaghetti, linguine, soba, and udon. The term often refers to moist, cooked pasta, since it has connotations of curviness and slipperiness, but also to dried noodles that must be reconstituted by boiling or soaking in water.
The word noodle derives from Latin nodus (knot), via German Nudel (noodle, pasta). The Chinese, Arab and Italian people all claimed to have been the first to create this string-like food, though the first written account of noodles is from the East Han Dynasty between 25 and 220 CE. In October 2005, the oldest noodles yet discovered were found at the Lajia site (Qijia culture) along the Yellow River in Qinghai, China.
The 4,000-year-old noodles appear to have been made from foxtail millet and broomcorn millet.
Legend has it that noodle was brought to Italy from China by Marco Polo.
Egg noodles are usually made of a mixture of egg and wheat flour.
The Noodle
