retaining the suggestion of prosperity, and
spread to the south around the 12th century.
Noodles made their way to Japan by the 7th or
8th century, where several kinds of men
evolved (p. 578).
Pasta in the Middle East and
Mediterranean Far to the west of China, in
the homeland of wheat, the earliest
indications of pasta-like preparations come in
the 6th century. A 9th century Syrian text
gives the Arabic name itriya to a preparation
of semolina dough shaped into strings and
dried. In 11th-century Paris, mention is made
of vermicelli, or “little worms.” In the 12th
century — around 200 years before Marco
Polo’s travels — the Arab geographer Idrisi
reported that the Sicilians made thread-like
itriya and exported them. The Italian term
macaroni first appeared in the 13th century
and was applied to various shapes, from flat to
lumpy. Medieval cooks made some pastas