Ask about the foods that have conquered the world and youre likely to hear about Coca-Cola and McDonalds Big Macs. But think again， because the most successful industrial food ever produced flies far under the radar — its cup noodles.

A new book， The Noodle Narratives， written by three US anthropologists 55 years after the birth of instant noodles in Japan， reveals that there were more than 100 billion servings of instant noodles worldwide in 2012 — thats about 14 servings for every single person on Earth. As for noodles themselves， they emerged more than 2，000 years ago to become a worldwide staple.

Given the fact that many instant noodles are MSG-enhanced junk food， not to mention the health risks associated with the paper cartons theyre served in， lets talk about noodles in terms of a culture you may not know.

要問哪種食物征服了世界，你很可能會聽到可口可樂和麥當勞巨無霸這樣的答案。但仔細想想，要說目前為止最成功、最低調(diào)的工業(yè)食品非碗裝方便面莫屬。

方便面在日本誕生56年之后，美國的三位人類學家撰寫了一本名為《面條的故事》的書。書中指出，2012年全球方便面銷量突破千億大關(guān)，相當于全球人均消費14包左右。面條起源于兩千多年前，是全球范圍的主食。

雖然許多方便面都是含有大量味精的垃圾食品，更不用說其包裝紙的健康隱患問題了，我們還是可以從文化方面來談談你可能有所不知的面條文化吧！

Earliest Noodles

面條始祖

The oldest historical mention of noodles according to Jen Lin-Liu， a columnist for The New York Times and author of the book On the Noodle Road： From Beijing to Rome， with Love and Pasta， appears in a dictionary from the third century AD in China. The earliest Chinese noodles， however， did not appear in strands as they do today. They were little pieces of bread dough thrown into a wok of boiling water. These kind of noodles， called mianpian， are still eaten in China.

Another early mention of noodles has been traced back to the fifth century AD in Jerusalem， when they were referred to as itrium. Several centuries later， a string-like pasta called itrium， made of semolina and dried before cooking， was described by Syrian physicians.

Of course， these documented mentions of noodles only came after noodles had already been developed — and unlike other inventions， like the telephone for example， its rather difficult to pinpoint exactly when and where noodles came from， given that they relied on the innovation of cooks.

《紐約時報》專欄作家、《面條之路：北京到羅馬，愛與意面同在》一書的作者林留清怡寫道：歷史上第一次提到面條是出自公元3世紀中國的一本字典。然而，最早的中式面條形狀與如今的形狀截然不同。那時的面條是扔進鍋中用沸水煮的小面片。這種面條叫面片，目前在中國，人們還在食用。

另一個早期提到面條的地方可以追溯到公元5世紀的耶路撒冷，當時這種面被稱作“itrium”。幾個世紀以后，一位敘利亞醫(yī)師描述道：一種由粗面粉做的串狀面食也被稱作“itrium”，這種面條在烹調(diào)之前需要曬干。

當然，這些提到面條的文獻要滯后于面條真正誕生的時間。與電話等發(fā)明不同，由于面條的發(fā)展依賴于廚藝創(chuàng)新，所以很難準確指出面條發(fā)明于何時何地。

Humanitarian Food

人道主義食品

Instant noodles were invented by Momofuku Ando in Japan in 1958. But few people know that instant noodles play an important role in hunger and disaster relief. While not exactly nutritious， instant noodles are a “hunger killer”， as US anthropologist Sidney Mintz would say.

According to the NPR， a US-based online news outlet， the fat in instant noodles， which are made with wheat flour fried in palm oil， combined with the soup， keeps one feeling full for longer. And that helps explain why noodles have become a staple in the worlds humanitarian food aid packages.

方便面誕生于1958年，由日本人安騰百福發(fā)明。很少有人知道它在賑饑與救災方面發(fā)揮著多么重要的作用。正如美國人類學家悉尼·明茨所說，“方便面雖然沒什么營養(yǎng)，卻能‘遏制饑餓”。

美國國家公共電臺NPR報道稱：方便面由面粉經(jīng)棕櫚油炸制而成，它的油脂再加上湯，容易讓人有持久的飽腹感。這就不難理解，為何面條能夠成為世界人道主義食品援助中的主食了。