When and where did Chinese noodles originate? Among the noodles such as chopped soba noodles, hand-rolled noodles, ramen noodles, pulled noodles, and noodles, who comes first and who comes first? It has always been an important issue in the history of cooking and even in the development of the origin of civilization. Recently, scientists have concluded that the origin of Chinese noodles is chopped soba noodles in northern Shaanxi. As the origin of safflower buckwheat and the core area of the tradition of chopped buckwheat noodles, Dingbian, Shaanxi, is considered to be the first place where soba noodles appeared.
In order to trace the origin of Chinese noodles, Professor Wei Yimin of the Institute of Agricultural Product Processing of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has done research for many years. Through the collation and comparison of artifacts excavated from ancient sites such as the Donghulin Ruins in Beijing, the Ligang Ruins in Xinzheng Pei Ligang in Henan, the Layihai Ruins in Guinan County, Qinghai, the Banpo Ruins in Xi'an, the Yulin Shi'an Ruins, and the Dingbian Neolithic Ruins, and through field surveys and in-depth excavation of historical documents, comparing the details of noodle making and tools and equipment in various places, Professor Wei Yimin believes that the origin of Chinese noodles is the chopped soba noodles that have been handed down to this day in the Dingbian, Jingbian and Wuqi areas of northern Shaanxi. For the noodles found at the 3900-year-old millet-based noodles found at the Lajia site in Qinghai, Professor Wei Yimin believes that because it is processed by millet, it is not a real pasta, so it is not among them.
Why is northern Shaanxi soba noodles the origin of Chinese noodles? First of all, because soba noodles are eaten much earlier than wheat noodles. Buckwheat originated in China and has a very long history of cultivation. Wheat was first introduced into China's Xinjiang region for more than 4,000 years, and later spread to the Central Plains. According to the Institute of Agricultural Product Processing of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, more than two thousand years ago, in the Longxi, Longdong, Guanzhong and Central Plains regions, the main areas of Chinese noodles, the crops planted were mainly millet, millet, buckwheat, etc., which originated in China, and little or no wheat was planted. "From the perspective of edible history, buckwheat is far older than wheat, and from the perspective of tool equipment and production difficulty, so it is easier to grind and obtain soba noodles than wheat noodles, so even in the period when buckwheat wheat is grown, so buckwheat noodles should appear and be eaten earlier," Wei Yimin said.
Studies believe that not only is buckwheat eaten thousands of years earlier than wheat, but soba noodles are also significantly older. Northern Shaanxi chopped soba noodles are freshly ground soba noodles made with water and dough, after waking up and kneading the noodles, rolling into dough cakes of about 10 mm, and chopping into noodles with a two-handed noodle knife to a thickness of two to four millimeters; after boiling, add lamb broth and seasoned shallots and other vegetables to eat. The researchers found that compared with the general noodle knife, the knife that chopped the buckwheat noodles in northern Shaanxi was far from sharp enough, and it was obviously blunt, mainly relying on the gravity of the buckwheat knife to cut the noodles. Researchers believe that this way of chopping noodles not by the sharpness of the noodle knife, but by the gravity of the face knife, probably originated in the Stone Age. Because if it is simply a cutting surface, the lighter iron tool can be done with one hand.
Northern Shaanxi chopped soba noodles are mainly spread in Dingbian, Jingbian, Wuqi and other counties. As the origin of safflower buckwheat in China, buckwheat has the longest history of cultivation, Dingbian is considered to be the core area of the tradition of chopped soba noodles. How long has it been chopping buckwheat noodles in northern Shaanxi? In Dingbian, from the Republic of China period to the "Cultural Revolution", folk have twice found artifacts close to stone knives. Huang Longcheng, former director of the Dingbian Cultural Center, said that according to local accounts, these "stone noodle knives" are narrower and heavier than the current chopping soba knives, so although the blade is not as sharp as the iron buckwheat knife, it is possible to cut the soba noodles because of the heavier weight. At present, the relevant departments of Dingbian County are collecting civilian stone knives.
Professor Wei Yimin's research believes that according to the excavated artifacts, historical documents and the inheritance relationship between each other, the earliest form of edible flour was cake, and chopped soba noodles were the earliest noodles in China. Wonton noodles are the originator of extruded noodles, is the primary form of large-scale production of noodles, hand-rolled noodles are wheat introduced into Guanzhong and the Central Plains, on the basis of the production process of chopped soba noodles. Xinjiang ramen is the ancestor of Lanzhou ramen, Lanzhou ramen is the prototype of handmade noodles, and the same type of Xinjiang ramen is also pulled noodles, pulling slices, cat ears and so on. (Reporter Han Chengbo)