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Chinese Scientists Unearth 4,000-Year-Old Noodle Dish (Suggests Pasta Invented In China)
KTVU ^ | October 13, 2005

Posted on 10/15/2005 3:55:18 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Ancient Finding Suggests Pasta Invented In China

BEIJING -- Who invented noodles first?

A discovery in western China could bolster the argument that the Chinese came up with pasta before the the Italians.

Researchers have found a 4,000-year-old clump of yellow noodles inside an overturned bowl in China. The noodles had been made from a dough of two local varieties of millet. The bowl had become sealed with clay, so the noodles were preserved.

The findings are published in this week's issue of the journal Nature. A Chinese researcher said they're definitely the earliest noodles ever found.

The researcher said the Chinese and Italians have always been at odds over who invented noodles, but said the disagreements were always based on personal accounts and menus -- not actual material like this.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: archaeology; chinaitaly; food; godsgravesglyphs; grain; history; millet; noodles
Culinary archaeology: Millet noodles in Late Neolithic China (Nature article)
1 posted on 10/15/2005 3:55:19 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: SunkenCiv; carlo3b; blam; Fiddlstix

ping


2 posted on 10/15/2005 3:56:10 PM PDT by nickcarraway (I'm Only Alive, Because a Judge Hasn't Ruled I Should Die...)
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To: nickcarraway

The Chinese seem to do an awful lot of digging. Every few days they come up with some new discovery proving a new aspect of their prowess. Almost any day now, they'll dig up an Atlas 5 and declare that they had one in 1782 BC.


3 posted on 10/15/2005 3:57:43 PM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: DoughtyOne

They will find a bottle of liquid Prell next to the skeleton of a trilobite.


4 posted on 10/15/2005 3:59:27 PM PDT by calrighty ( Terrorists are like cockroaches . Kill em all soon!!)
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To: nickcarraway
Chinese came up with pasta before the the Italians.

I've never heard any different.

5 posted on 10/15/2005 4:00:48 PM PDT by BenLurkin (O beautiful for patriot dream - that sees beyond the years)
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To: DoughtyOne; nickcarraway

Actually, it's been thought by food historians for some time that pasta originated in China. It may have been brought back in the relatively recent past by Marco Polo, or it may have been something that was known to Italians from older Silk Road contacts with the Orient.


6 posted on 10/15/2005 4:00:55 PM PDT by livius
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To: nickcarraway

In fact -- it was Marco Polo who brought noodles (noodle 'technology') back to Italy.


7 posted on 10/15/2005 4:01:40 PM PDT by BenLurkin (O beautiful for patriot dream - that sees beyond the years)
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To: BenLurkin

I have learn about Marco Polo all my life. I'm 51 now. Nothing new here.


8 posted on 10/15/2005 4:02:10 PM PDT by bmwcyle (We broke Pink's Code and found a terrorist message)
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To: calrighty

LOL, could be.

BTW, I thought it was gigabyte. Oh well...


9 posted on 10/15/2005 4:02:22 PM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: nickcarraway

That's not all. They also found one of those white take-out cartons with the little metal wire holder next to the noodles!


10 posted on 10/15/2005 4:03:38 PM PDT by Brofholdonow
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To: DoughtyOne

: )


11 posted on 10/15/2005 4:03:45 PM PDT by calrighty ( Terrorists are like cockroaches . Kill em all soon!!)
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To: nickcarraway
Previous thread with a more informative article on the same topic here (with pictures).
12 posted on 10/15/2005 4:04:18 PM PDT by Ichneumon (Certified pedantic coxcomb)
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To: nickcarraway

Now they just need to dig up a 4000 year-old Suffering Bastard.


13 posted on 10/15/2005 4:06:54 PM PDT by Ruddles
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To: nickcarraway
Oldest Noodles Unearthed In China
14 posted on 10/15/2005 4:06:57 PM PDT by blam
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To: livius

I do agree with that. It is still rather comical to watch the blurbs coming out of China at about two to four week intervals.


15 posted on 10/15/2005 4:07:09 PM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: livius

The Italians didn't invent pasta, they just perfected it.


16 posted on 10/15/2005 4:09:13 PM PDT by PeoplesRepublicOfWashington (Washington State--Land of Court-approved Voting Fraud.)
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To: DoughtyOne
The Chinese seem to do an awful lot of digging. Every few days they come up with some new discovery proving a new aspect of their prowess. Almost any day now, they'll dig up an Atlas 5 and declare that they had one in 1782 BC.

They even acknowledge that there were "white" civilizations, that is, European types (as we were all out of Africa at once time) on their western borders.
The graves dug up were in the thousands....very well preserved. Even the color of the hair was still evident -- red hair.

They do like to dig, don't they?

17 posted on 10/15/2005 4:09:59 PM PDT by starfish923 (It's never right to do wrong. Socrates)
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To: BenLurkin
Let's not foget that he also brought back the recipe for "gelate" from the Arabian lands. Snow was brought from the mountains, mixed with milk and ice milk was born. Marco Polo brought this home along with the noodles but lasagna and ziti are definitely Italian inspired improvements. When the Italians learned this recipe they developed gelate, ice cream and lemon ice!!!

Pst...pizza was invented as a dish for the poor not the pine apple, chicken, steak, and other ingredients which pollute my tomato pie!!!!

18 posted on 10/15/2005 4:10:18 PM PDT by Young Werther
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To: starfish923

Gotta keep those 1.3 billion people busy doing something.


19 posted on 10/15/2005 4:17:07 PM PDT by manwiththehands
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To: nickcarraway

Damn those commies. First the Russians invented the Hot Dog and Baseball and now this. But I'll bet those "Chinese Finger-cuffs" were invented in Brooklyn.


20 posted on 10/15/2005 4:17:16 PM PDT by fat city ("The nation that controls magnetism controls the world.")
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To: DoughtyOne
any day now, they'll dig up an Atlas 5 and declare that they had one in 1782 BC.

Or a fruitcake.

21 posted on 10/15/2005 4:26:15 PM PDT by joshhiggins
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To: nickcarraway
From BBC -
22 posted on 10/15/2005 4:28:33 PM PDT by UnklGene
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To: nickcarraway
...(Suggests Pasta Invented In China)

As far as I know, they did.

23 posted on 10/15/2005 4:36:03 PM PDT by infidel29 ("We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid." --Benjamin Franklin)
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To: nickcarraway
Thanks Nick. No ping, we just had one about this, but this looks to be a different source.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
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24 posted on 10/15/2005 4:38:17 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Down with Dhimmicrats! I last updated by FR profile on Sunday, August 14, 2005.)
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To: DoughtyOne
I have Chinese friends who insist that the Chinese invented both the magnetic compass and the latitude-longitude grid system to map the planet. The distance between degrees (longitude, for example) is approximately 69 miles. The Chinese used different names for their calibrations, but claim that theirs was exactly the same as the one used by the sailors who explored China in the 14th through 19th centuries.
25 posted on 10/15/2005 4:42:41 PM PDT by Free Baptist
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To: nickcarraway
Chinese Scientists Unearth 4,000-Year-Old Noodle Dish (Still Tastes Better Than Anything from Hamburger Helper)
26 posted on 10/15/2005 4:45:47 PM PDT by Petronski (I love Cyborg!)
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To: calrighty

Actually, I was envisioning a pizza box with a notation to "hold the trilobites" ...mmmmm.


27 posted on 10/15/2005 4:51:04 PM PDT by silverleaf (Fasten your seat belts- it's going to be a BUMPY ride.)
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To: Petronski

They found it in my old college roommate's fridge. No lie.


28 posted on 10/15/2005 5:02:53 PM PDT by Appalled but Not Surprised
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To: BenLurkin
I've never heard any different.

Nor I......

29 posted on 10/15/2005 5:20:59 PM PDT by Decepticon (The average age of the world's great civilizations has been 200 years......(NRA)
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To: nickcarraway
Who invented noodles first?

I thought it was Al Gore.

30 posted on 10/15/2005 5:24:00 PM PDT by Cowboy Bob (Liberalism cannot survive in a free and open society.)
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To: silverleaf

ROTFLMBO !


31 posted on 10/15/2005 5:25:19 PM PDT by calrighty ( Terrorists are like cockroaches . Kill em all soon!!)
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To: Free Baptist
I have Chinese friends who insist that the Chinese invented both the magnetic compass .....

Have you seen the little spoons made from lodestone that sit on a small compass tile? Very cool and very old, your friends are probably correct, before that I believe they just used small needles that gave a general direction.....

32 posted on 10/15/2005 5:27:55 PM PDT by Decepticon (The average age of the world's great civilizations has been 200 years......(NRA)
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To: BenLurkin

Marco Polo said as much.


33 posted on 10/15/2005 6:02:39 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Troubled by NOLA looting ? You ain't seen nothing yet.)
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To: joshhiggins

LOL


34 posted on 10/15/2005 6:43:15 PM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: Free Baptist

Whether they did have these things or not, it's still interesting to hear the claims.


35 posted on 10/15/2005 6:45:55 PM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: nickcarraway

No way! Everybody knows that noodles were invented by Kraft Foods and brought to us by HEB. Next, I suppose that you'll try to tell me that milk comes from a cow......./sarc


36 posted on 10/15/2005 6:47:40 PM PDT by Sarajevo
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To: BenLurkin
Contrary to popular belief, Marco Polo did not discover pasta.

The ancient Italians made pasta much like we do today. Although Marco Polo wrote about eating Chinese pasta at the court of Kubla Khan, he probably didn't introduce pasta to Italy.

In fact, there's evidence suggesting the Etruscans made pasta as early as 400 B.C. The evidence lies in a bas-relief carving in a cave about 30 miles north of Rome. The carving depicts instruments for making pasta - a rolling-out table, pastry wheel and flour bin.

And further proof that Marco Polo didn't "discover" pasta is found in the will of Ponzio Baestone, a Genoan soldier who requested "bariscella peina de macarone" - a small basket of macaroni. His will is dated 1279, 16 years before Marco Polo returned from China.

Source: http://www.ilovepasta.org/factsaboutpasta.html

==============

Hey, gang,
Not trying to rub anybody's nose into it. Just that I remember years ago reading somewhere about this. You know, one of those things-you-thought-you-knew-was-right-is-wrong type books.
-YD

37 posted on 10/15/2005 7:51:46 PM PDT by yankeedame ("Oh, I can take it but I'd much rather dish it out.")
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To: Petronski
Chinese Scientists Unearth 4,000-Year-Old Noodle Dish (Still Tastes Better Than Anything from Hamburger Helper)

LOL! Well, cheeze, that's not saying much!

38 posted on 10/15/2005 7:58:31 PM PDT by yankeedame ("Oh, I can take it but I'd much rather dish it out.")
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To: F16Fighter

I-Doubt-They-Called-It-Macaroni Ping! ;-)


39 posted on 10/15/2005 8:00:56 PM PDT by arasina (So there.)
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To: arasina
I just checked out this thread...And NO, they didn't call it "macaroni(s)"! (As in, "Aye -- you want more macaronis??")
40 posted on 10/15/2005 8:05:23 PM PDT by F16Fighter
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To: yankeedame

Thanks for the correction. It IS one of those weird myths. I'll start another one: his full name was Marco Roni Polo. :o)


41 posted on 10/15/2005 8:05:30 PM PDT by arasina (So there.)
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To: F16Fighter

Aw, shoot. I fuhgot dat ess. Ahnuhbull QTF16, Suh.


42 posted on 10/15/2005 8:07:03 PM PDT by arasina (So there.)
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To: arasina

Yeah, plural. Ahrahseenah-sama.


43 posted on 10/15/2005 8:09:33 PM PDT by F16Fighter
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To: nickcarraway

But did they have any poodles eating noodles?


44 posted on 10/15/2005 8:09:47 PM PDT by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
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To: BenLurkin
"I've never heard any different."

It's getting hard for me to remember all the way back to the 4th grade, since that was 1957, however IIRC, we learned in history that Marco Polo brought spaghetti to Italy when he returned from China. I see now that a lot of us seem to think that, though it may be more legend than history.

45 posted on 10/15/2005 8:10:01 PM PDT by Sam Cree (absolute reality)
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46 posted on 05/18/2009 6:34:12 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/____________________ Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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