My noodle story

 

by Sudeepa Roy

 

Our childhood holds a chunk of nostalgia about noodles and the halo surrounding it. During this time, the classic advertisement for Maggi noodles in Doordarshan television was equally alluring and addictive. Running back home after a school-day or a play-time in the evening, to slurp a bowl full of hot noodles was as propitious for the kids as the advert itself. It would also evoke a display of playful efforts by the kids to slurp the singular longest strings uninterruptedly in the fastest possible time. Little aware of the myth that “long noodles meant long life!”, the kids slurped it all up rolling off their youthful tongues. This phenomenal craze for noodles was candidly lured both by taste & time.

 

Moreover, excitement and contentment filled the hearts of both young and the old whenever noodles became a food of choice for a meal. However, such cases mostly involved elaborate preparations where  boiled noodles were sautéed with a handful of vegetable cuts and a  side of chicken glazed in soya sauce. Very often noodles sautéed with vegetables and scrambled eggs would replace or accompany a petite snack like samosa or patty, which would otherwise be offered along with tea (cha) to any near and dear friend or to a relative on an occasional home visit for recreation. 

 

During school days, boiled noodle (maggi, mostly) in school tiffins was a common affair. Though the boiled strings, on getting cold would coil up to a chunky mass contouring the boundaries of the tiffin box, yet the choice for it would remain undeterred. Sometimes, a fried version of the noodles would get selective preference in tiffin-box to avert the inconvenience of lump formation. 

 

Surprisingly, after a long span of years when my childhood has become a memory and motherhood is in full forefront, the fetish for noodles has not undergone any change. The only thing that inquests my mind and choices more, are related to the history of origination of this magic strings and strips, the possibilities of using them in different cuisines,  and in exploring the different cultural recipes stemming from it in different countries, around the world. All in all, what I can apprehend is that —the enduring aura of noodles remain as pervasive as the numerous contentious discussions related to its origin. Whether it is wrapped in a packet or foisted in a tub as cup ‘o’ noodles, very often, the mere addition of a dash of hot water and a handful of spices or herbs makes it ready to be slurped, anytime, anywhere. Only a few kids or grown-ups from our own aeon would falter in citing their self version of the noodle-tell-o-tale. 

 

Over time, the culinary possibilities with noodles have run parallel to the emerging versions of its own new forms and shapes. Though not all pastas are noodles yet essentially all noodles are pastas in a number of forms : Spaghetti, linguines, capellini, fettuccine, bucatini, tortellini, pappardelle, vermicelli & the others, offer a bulky range of budding culinary ideas that anyone can successfully experiment with. Of all these, till date, my favourite and the best  remains the one prepared by my Maa as a simple common hot & slurry traditional Indian masala maggi or sometimes as in chow-mein enhanced with a tossing of fried vegetables, eggs or shrimps, a hearty swirl of ketchup on the top, and a bowl full of blooming salad as a side.

While, a hearty acceptance of these noodle strips, despite its world wide popularity remain impeded due to the presence of bleached flour and associated gluten in its composition, I continue doodling around the all possible evolving trends of the noodle & the noodle stories that are yet to contribute to its culinary variations. In every case, the noodle stories must sprout from new homes, new minds disentangling new scopes, and craft memories that soar higher and higher to touch the upcoming generations in future.