4,000 year old noodles and the inventor of instant noodles - one unearthed,the other buried

Lajia is an important archaeological site in Qinghai province on the Yellow River in China associated with the Qijia culture and was discovered by archaeologists in 2000 and has been compared to Pompeii where life 4,000 odd years ago was hit by a sudden catastrophe. "Based on the geological and archaeological evidence, there was a catastrophic earthquake and immediately following the quake, the site was subject to flooding by the river," says Professor Kam-biu Liu, from Louisiana State University, US.

Most buildings are cave dwellings and some 250 are spread across a large site which has yielded stone musical instruments, cast bronze mirrors, and jade tools and jewellery.

This year the Professor Lu Houyuan and colleagues at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (also Nature (vol.437: p.967-968) have claimed to have discovered the oldest noodles ever discovered.... the oldest record of them previously has been traced to a book written during the East Han Dynasty sometime between AD 25 and 220.

50cm. long, yellowed strands, which have been radio carbon dated, (o are evidently not the discarded lunch of an excavator) had been made from 2 species of millet grass , foxtail (Setaria italica - known from China , it wasn't until the mid 19th Century it was introduced to Europe and is known as German or Italian millet) and broomcorn (Panicum miliaceum which is known from Chinese sites up to 7,000 years ago and is regarded as a weed in North America) and were found trapped in an air pocket by mud in an upturned earthenware bowl with a basket weave pattern. Identfication of the species was possible by the seed husks left in the bowl and amylum or starch analysis.

Unlike the familiar wheat noodle made today, these noodles resemble the La-Mian noodle,which is a type of traditional Chinese noodle that is made by repeatedly pulling and stretching the dough by hand. Millet is a grain used for a gluten free diet.

Momofuku Ando, was born in Taiwan in 1910 and moved to Japan in 1933,and founded the Nissin Food Products Co after World War II and is credited with inventing the instant noodle Chicken Ramen, in 1958.The company now has 25 plants located in 8 countries and their noodles are consumed in over 70 countries.

It was the introduction of waterproof ,low cost , easily formed, sealable polystyrene containers in 1971, that thrust the easily prepared food snack on world markets. Although he retired in 2005 Mr Ando was still working until he died last week aged 96 of a heart attack. Healthy calories controlled living with noodles here.

FOOTNOTE

Ace UK chess player, Harriet Hunt is a Research Fellow in Archaeogenetics, at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, who is using genetic markers to explore the patterns of diversity in broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum).