First, the history of noodles
On June 22, 2002 165438+20021October 22, 2002, a pottery bowl unearthed from Lajia site in Qinghai, China, contained similar noodles, which were identified by experts as noodles made by Xiaomi. According to the analysis of identification results, this unearthed cultural relic is about 4000 years ago, so it can be concluded that it is the earliest noodle remains in the world so far. Since then, the assertion that "China is the birthplace of noodles" has never been questioned in the world.
In China, the characters about noodles were recorded as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, more than 900 years ago/kloc-0. What was originally called "cake" was the first Chinese noodle. "The cake is also harmonious, and the noodles are also harmonious" (quoted from Liu Xi>).
Noodles have been recorded in the historical documents of China. There are historical records from the early Eastern Han Dynasty, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to the end of Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. But at first, the names of noodles were not uniform. Besides boiled noodles, boiled cakes and soup cakes, there were also cakes lured by water and eaten raw. The word "noodles" was not officially used until the Song Dynasty.
In the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, it was mentioned that the court at that time required making "soup cakes" in winter and "cold scouring" in summer (cold scouring refers to cold noodles/cold noodles with water). In the Yuan Dynasty, dried noodles that could be preserved for a long time appeared. There was a superb "Lamian Noodles" in the Ming Dynasty. The appearance of these noodle-making technologies has made great contributions to the development of noodles. The most significant thing in Qing Dynasty is the appearance of "spiced noodles" and "eight treasures noodles", and the appearance of "Yifu noodles" in Qianlong period. (Yifu Noodle is a kind of fried egg noodles and one of the famous pasta in China. In fact, China pasta was quite mature in the Qing Dynasty, and even each region had its own unique flavor, such as China's five famous noodles: Dandan Noodles in Sichuan, Yifu noodles in Guangdong and Guangxi, Zhajiang noodles in the north, Daoxiao Noodles in Shanxi and Regan Noodles in Wuhan.
Chinese noodles, the ancestor of noodles, are well-known at home and abroad and have a far-reaching influence on pasta culture all over the world. Once produced, noodles quickly went abroad and spread to neighboring countries such as Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam, North Korea, South Korea and Japan. /kloc-in the 3rd century, it was brought to Venice by Italian traveler Kyle Poirot, and then spread all over the world through Europe.
Second, the characteristics of noodles
Noodles are mainly made of flour. Before the appearance of noodles, rice and porridge were the staple foods of China people, but when noodles appeared in person, the status of noodles was equal to that of rice. Northerners live on pasta; Although southerners rely heavily on rice, pasta has also become an important snack.
Noodles in the north and south are very different. "Noodles" in the south refers to strip food made of flour or rice flour, mainly egg noodles, which are made of duck egg yolk instead of eggs. Noodles are young and refreshing. Among them, there are both strangers and Regan Noodles. Popular noodles are thin strips of dry noodles and shrimp noodles. "Noodle" in the north refers to flour ground from wheat. Noodles don't use eggs, use alkaline water. Adding alkaline water can make noodles easy to digest, so noodles become the main food of northerners. Compared with southern noodles, northern noodles are thicker, softer, smoother and more elastic.
Northerners take flour as their staple food, so they pay more attention to the quality and quantity of pasta. Northerners often use seasonal leaves and fresh vegetables to make noodles, accompanied by raw onions, garlic, parsley and other seasonings. They taste heavy oil, and the ingredients and soup are salty, mainly to drive away the cold. A large appetite can also be served with steamed bread and sesame cakes. The south is the opposite. Because southerners take rice as the staple food and noodles as snacks or entertainment, they are used to serving in small bowls, but they prefer soy sauce, pickled mustard tuber and rapeseed oil to onion, ginger and leafy vegetables, and prefer dried noodles. The appearance and taste are not satisfactory to noodle lovers.
Of course, traditional noodles are handmade, and all noodles are handmade, such as mixing noodles, making noodles, Lamian Noodles or Daoxiao Noodles. But the noodles made in the south and the north are also different, each with its own characteristics. The most famous one in the north is "Lamian Noodles", as the name implies, which is drawn by hand. It is not easy for Lamian Noodles to be soft and tough. Only by controlling the strength can we make good products. On the other hand, southern noodles are soft and firm, cool but not crisp, and the key lies in the strength of making noodles. Generally, after the dough is mixed, it is flattened with bamboo pieces by the elasticity of the human body, pressed into a book shape, and finally cut into strips with a knife.
Third, the story of noodles
In addition to the cultural differences between North and South, many aspects actually have different meanings or unique stories behind them.
China traditional pasta-longevity noodles. People in China must eat food at the end of the party every birthday, because noodles are very long, which means longevity. In ancient times, eating longevity noodles symbolizes wishing the newborn baby boy a long life, which has been handed down from generation to generation. When eating noodles, you should swallow a whole noodle at a time. You can neither clip it off with chopsticks nor bite it off with your mouth. Eating longevity noodles not only symbolizes longevity, but also represents respect for the elderly. It is said that in the winter of the Han Dynasty, the Yellow Emperor became immortal. Since then, longevity noodles have been eaten every winter to show respect for the elderly, so longevity noodles are also called "winter to sun noodles" In fact, there are different opinions about the meaning of "longevity noodles", and the above is just one of them.
Birthday noodles will also be called "handmade noodles", with many names. For example, something given to the woman at the time of marriage is called "happy face"; What pregnant women eat during childbirth is called "Fu Mian"; Giving gifts to relatives and friends is "too dull"; What the old, the weak and the sick eat is called "healthy noodles". According to folklore, rice noodles (very fine noodles made of rice) are a gift prepared by Xuan Nv for his mother, Queen Mother Nine Amanome. Therefore, the God of Nine Days in Xuan Nv is dedicated to noodle makers. There are many kinds of rice noodles in Fuzhou, including egg noodles, Longxu Noodles noodles and silver noodles.
Another example is the aforementioned "cold scouring", which was created by Wu Zetian, the only female emperor in China today. It is said that Wu Meiniang was very beautiful when he was young, and was chosen as a palace talent at the age of 14. Because I wanted to be separated from my childhood sweetheart Chang Jianfeng, I went to a noodle restaurant to eat noodles before I entered the palace. Seeing the hot weather that day, Mei Niang had a brainwave and developed a soft and delicious "cold scouring" with her boss. Just happened to meet Mei Niang's birthday. In order to miss the scene of that year, every time Wu Zetian's birthday, I would order a chef to cook cold dishes. This habit has not changed until my death.
There is a kind of "Qi Mian" in Qishan, Shaanxi. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, Yin was jealous of Ji Chang's achievements and imprisoned him in a castle in Youli (tangyin county, Henan). Later, when Zhou Wenwang returned to his hometown, the villagers saw that he was emaciated by pain. They all brought a lot of food to make him better. Zhou Wenwang thanked everyone for their kindness to him, so he personally gave a face-to-face reception. Everyone eats the noodles in the bowl, pours the soup left in the bowl back into the pot, and then pours the noodles. Later generations called this way of eating noodles instead of soup "harmonious noodles".
Today, there are different festivals around the world with noodles as the content. Even, Japan held "World Noodle Day". In China, Changchun, Harbin and other cities, there is a saying of "noodle festival". There are three days in a class, one for the old, one for the young and one for the young.
Wheat spread from West Asia to China in BC turned into noodles and then spread to the western regions. Then it spread all over the world, and countless noodle cultures with local characteristics were born. Therefore, it is said that "the world pasta is in China", and the knowledge of pasta in China is extensive and profound, which cannot be completely summarized with short figures. The only thing that is certain is that China is indeed the ancestor of noodles and an expert in making noodles; Every kind of noodles has a different history and culture, which makes Chinese noodles famous all over the world.
Fourth, the types of noodles.
In ancient China, food hygiene conditions were very poor. Compared with other foods, boiled noodles are the cleanest, which can greatly reduce the occurrence of gastrointestinal diseases, thus promoting noodles to become one of the most common foods in China. Due to the difference of making strips and seasoning, thousands of noodle varieties have appeared all over China, all over the country.
The famous noodles are: Zhajiang noodles in Beijing, Longxu Noodles; Lamian Noodles in Fushan, Shandong, noodles with gravy in Jinan, Lamian Noodles in Penglai; Huimian Noodles, confused noodles, handmade noodles, paste noodles, fishing noodles, Guo Qiang noodles, and noodles (commonly known as steamed noodles); Wang Chang noodles in Guizhou and noodles with minced meat in Qishan; Daoxiao Noodles, Shanxi; Lanzhou broth beef noodles (Lanzhou Lamian Noodles); Regan Noodles in Wuhan; Dandan Noodles, Sichuan; Yangchun noodles in Shanghai; Wonton Noodles in Guangzhou (including wonton and noodles); Hong Kong noodles (different from those in the north), car noodles and shrimp noodles; Basket noodles and beef noodles in Taiwan Province Province; Anhui's disk; King of Hebei Hard Noodles.
Noodles are the staple food in the Yellow River valley in the north and its north, and are often used as breakfast in the south. Rice noodles, rice noodles and river noodles are all derivatives of noodles.