On the Noodle Road: From Beijing to Rome, with Love and Pasta
Even though the hoary legend that depicts Marco Polo bringing the noodle back from China to Italy has been long debunked, the noodle’s origins remain shrouded in the mists of prehistory. Lin-Liu, an American and director of a cooking school in Beijing, sets off on a trek to follow the Silk Road west across China through Central Asia and Turkey to Italy to discover how disparate times and peoples have given the noodle new shapes and textures. Touring initially with a couple of fellow chefs, she notes that, even within their own nation, the Chinese can be very wary of other provinces’ cooking. Crossing into Central Asia, Lin-Liu reunites with her husband and in-laws, making the journey less lonely. Encountering Iranian women in the course of cooking demonstrations teaches Lin-Liu more than Persian cooking and gives her a glimpse across an ideological divide. Of value to both travelers and gourmets. --Mark Knoblauch