In 2002 a set of four thousand-year old noodles were unearthed at Laija, an archeological site in the Qinghai Province of northwestern China.
Eventhough the noodles were buried underneath more than 10 feet of dirt, they were still almost perfectly preserved. The noodles made from a type of grain called millet were the oldest noodles ever discovered.
When the invaders from the north and west overran northern China, beginning in the twelfth century, noodle making technology was carried down to the Yangzi basin and the all across the south.
One of the cultures of China was that when a woman neared her to give birth, her family would take noodles over three bridges with the belief that after eating the noodles, she would have a successful birth.
Noodle is likely that large scale commercial production was already well under way in Han dynasty, about AD 100, following the introduction of wheat milling technology imported from Middle East.
Noodles were first enjoyed by China’s ruler and then, as wheat became more widely available, by ordinary people.
Noodles in ancient China
