Noodle Nostalgia

Legend goes that when Marco Polo returnedhome after his journey to China， he broughtnoodles from the Oriental nation， contributingto the advent of Italian pasta. This particulartheory is far from universally accepted， but an article inthe October 2005 issue of British Nature magazine de-scribed the discovery of a 4，000-year-old bowl of noodlesfrom an archaeological site in China's western provinceof Qinghai. While northern Chinese residents tend to usenoodles as a staple， those in the central areas save noodlesfor special dishes rather than daily meals. During festi-vals and special occasions， housewives serve a variety ofdishes created from wheat flour.