The History of Pasta and Noodles

It’s a story often told, and often refuted, that the medieval traveler Marco Polo found noodles in China and introduced them to Italy. A recent book by Silvano Serventi and Françoise Sabban has set the record straight in authoritative and fascinating detail. China was indeed the first country to develop the art of noodle making, but there were pastas in the Mediterranean world long before Marco Polo.