Book Log 2014 #2: On the Noodle Road by Jen Lin-Liu

The author, a journalist and cooking school owner, noted in her travels the development of noodles as a primary part of both Chinese and Italian cuisine and wondered, as many have before, if they were developed in one location and then spread to the other. In this case, she decided to travel (to the greatest extent possible) the Silk Road, to see what evidence could be found in history, folklore and current cooking to support a theory of how noodles came to be.

If you're looking for a definitive answer, (spoiler alert) you're not going to get one here, and to be fair you're unlikely to get one anywhere. The occasional 4000 year old noodles notwithstanding, there's just not enough information out there to come up with a unified noodle theory.

The author begins to realize this pretty early on, as the noodles of Beijing give way to square noodles (sort of like single-thickness ravioli without the filling) and then, for much of Central Asia, a rice pilaf-like dish called plov that is more or less inescapable. But she soldiers on, and turns the trip into as much of an examination of the role of women and marriage as seen through food as anything else. This includes practical considerations (how to dress when traveling through a variety of Islamic countries) and broader concerns (how will being married to a fellow journalist and potential diplomat change her life).

There's a certain similarity to Paul Theroux's travel works here, with a shift from writing to cooking. The author does trade her services in the kitchen for lessons, and like Theroux often gets a more personal look at the people and cultures he encounters. The writing isn't at the same level, but the general idea - the full educational experience of travel - is familiar.

It's not perfect, but it's certainly worth a read.