Where's it from?

Factual Questions
1

Pasta that is. I did a search of the world’s foremost knowledge store (the Straight Dope archives) and came up with zilch. Searching google (a great source of information, but hardly the source of truth), I found many sites including these that seem to point to the either the Etruscans, or the Arabs, or possibly China. The point is they don’t agree. They give conflicting dates and no hard facts!

http://www.pasta.co.uk/total_pasta/history/

http://members.tripod.com/FrancoRossi/english/history.htm

http://www.professionalpasta.it/dir_9/1_whoinv.htm

So how about it, anybody know where Pasta was first invented?

2

According to me in What’s the deal with Ramen noodles?, they come from China.

3

Thanks JillGat, I guess I should have searched more.

Nevertheless, I remain unfulfilled. You state that the Chinese have been eating noodles for over 2000 years, while one of the cites in the OP says the Etruscans have been slurping spaghetti since 1200 BC (Ok, Lasagna, but I like the verb). Yet another of the cites states the chinese have been eating lo mein or some other product for more than 3,000 years.

Is there any definitive proof out there for any of the dates? Cave paintings in marinara? Garlic bread remnants around ancient campfires? Jade colanders in King Tut’s tomb?

4

Whoever it was they were using their noodles.

5

Ouch!

6

Ever heard of simultaneous discovery? If you have a grain, about all you can do is bake, fry or boil it. Noodles is a natural.

7

FWIW, the Epicurious Dictionary says “archaeological documentation now points to the fact that noodles probably originated in central Asia, possibly dating back to at least 1000 b.c.” It seems that there is general agreement on the date, but maybe no one culture can claim fame as the sole inventor of pasta.