Origins

From the stunning discovery of the origins of noodles at the Etruscan tomb "La Tomba dei Rilievi" to the famous anecdote of the Venetian Explorer, Marco Polo, bringing back noodles from China, the origins of noodles are widely disputed and the question on who invented noodles is hotly debated. However, it is believed by some that noodle was developed independently by different people from all parts of the world.

China

The most famous anecdote regarding the origin of noodles is the tale of Marco Polo introduction of Chinese noodles to Italy. The Great Venetian Explorer was said to have come back from China with a packet of vermicelli in his shopping bag.

However, noodles had been consumed for at least two hundreds years when Marco Polo was not even returning to Venice, Italy. When Marco Polo was in the East in 1279 a.d. the will of Ponzio Baestone, a Genoan soldier, was drafted. In this will he requested "bariscella peina de macarone": which means a small basket of macaroni! This all happened 16 years before Marco Polo returned from China.

Therefore, based on the above evidence, the attribution of the discovery of noodles in China by Marco Polo is incorrect.

Etruscans

If you hear the word pasta, you may think Italy, but it’s said that pasta actually goes back to the Etruscans (400 B.C.). It is believed that they used to prepare the first lasagna made of spelt which is a cereal like wheat, but far more resistant against bad weather and diseases.

The Etruscan tomb “La Tomba dei Rilievi” in Cerveteri, found 48 kilometers north of Rome provides iconographic evidence of the origins of noodles. Carvings of a lady rolling out dough with implements, like rolling pin, sack of flour, knife and water. However, the carvings do not show a full picture of how the flattened dough might have been prepared.

Nevertheless, the theory of the origin of noodles, based on archeological findings in the Etruscan tomb, is incorrect. This is due to the lack of other hard evidences to support the theory.

Sicily-Arab

The first clear Italian reference to dried noodles (or pasta) comes from Arab Sicily. In 1138, a Moroccan geographer, Abu Abdullah Muhemmed Ibn Idris, was commissioned by the Norman King of Sicily, to survey his kingdom.

Abu Abdullah Muhemmed Ibn Idris described the vast fields, mill and farms where string-like pasta was produced and exported in shiploads to Calabria, and to other parts of the world.

The first certain record of noodles cooked by boiling is in the Jerusalem Talmud, written in Aramaic in the 5th century AD. The word used for the noodles was itrija. In Arabic references this word stands for the dried noodles purchased from a vendor, rather than homemade noodles. More than likely, pasta was introduced during the Arab conquests of Sicily, carried in as a dry ration. The Arab geographer, lbn Idris wrote that a flour-based product in the shape of strings was produced in Palermo (then an Arab colony) when he was surveying Sicily.

Some historians think the Sicilian word "maccaruni" which translates as "made into dough by force" is the origin of our word, macaroni.