Noodles originated in China, where they were first called "soup cakes".

More than 4,000 years ago, a sudden earthquake destroyed a village in northwestern China, followed by a flood that froze it over. More than 4,000 years later, in 2005 to be exact, archaeologists discovered a noodle about 50 centimeters long and 3 millimeters wide exposed in a rock layer in the village of Lajia in Qinghai province, which has been dubbed "China's Pompeii". But it probably wasn't called "noodles" at the time.

The earliest noodles in China were called "cakes" or "soup cakes," and the "water-induced hoto method" for making them was first documented in the 1,400-year-old "Qimin yaojutsu" (The Essential Art of Qi Min). --挼（ruó）is as big as chopsticks, one foot and one break, in a dish soaked with water, it is better to put your hand on the pan, and 挼to make it as thin as a leek leaf and cook it at a boil." "挼如大指许，二寸一断，著水盆中浸，宜以手向盆旁挼使极薄，皆急火逐沸熟煮。"

Simply put, "houtou" is made of chopstick-thin noodles, pinched into one-foot shapes, soaked in water, and then quickly pinched into flat strips by hand over the steam of a boiling pot, and then boiled and topped with chicken broth. Hoto is similar to water-induced noodles, except that it is shaped more like a flat noodle, but the texture is "smooth and beautiful," making it the earliest noodle soup in the Central Plains.

Expanded Information

Specialty Noodles: Specialty Noodles: Specialty Noodles from all over the world include Wuhan's Hot Noodles, Inner Mongolia's Stewed Noodles, Shanxi's Knife-shaved Noodles and Castanets, Beijing's Fried Sauce Noodles, Lanzhou's Ramen Noodles, Chongqing's Chongqing Noodles, Shanghai's Yangchun Noodles, Gaoyou's Soya Sauce Noodles (also known as Gaoyou's Yangchun Noodles), Yangyang's Beef Noodles, Yangzhou's Yangchun Noodles, Yangzhou Fried Noodles, Northeast's Cold Noodles, Baoding's Fried Noodles Cold Noodles in Northeast China, Daciguet Vegetarian Noodles in Baoding, and Oil Splattered Noodles in Shaanxi.

Henan's chow mein, lo mein, hemp duck noodles, noodles, Guangdong's wonton noodles, Fujian's shaxian bibimbap, Zhangzhou lo mein, Putian lo mein, Xiamen sacha mein, Sichuan's dan dan mein, pai gai mein, Qishan and Xinye's bashful noodles, Guiyang's intestines Wang Wang mein, Fuyang Gelatan noodles, Eddy Yang dry buckles noodles, and so on.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Noodles