At dawn the steam rises in a noodle shop. The cook kneads a lump of dough and leaves it to rest on the board. A child who has come to help asks, "How can one lump of dough turn into so many shapes?"
The cook lifts the dough, stretches it, folds it and stretches it again, and in his hands it becomes a bundle of fine strands. He takes a firmer piece and shaves it into the pot with a knife, and the pieces fall with edges of uneven thickness. Then he rolls a dough flat, folds it and cuts it into wide strips.
"All dough," says the cook, "it depends how you set your hand to it." The child counts what has been made: a handful of fine strands, a heap of flat pieces, a stack of wide strips, each with its own shape.
The child watches several kinds roll together in the pot and asks, "And rice noodles?"
The cook points to another pot. "Those are made from something else. Still strands, still a bowl." He fills the bowls one by one, some with soup, some tossed with seasoning, some stir-fried in the pan. The child nods and carries the bowls out.
Explanation
Noodles are not one thing but a class of methods and materials. One dough can be pulled, shaved, rolled or pressed, while rice noodles, starch noodles and coarse-grain noodles start from other materials; all are strands or sheets that, once cooked, become a meal in soup, tossed or stir-fried. (This is an illustrative story, not a historical account.)
Hand-Pulled NoodlesNoodles made by stretching a dough by hand, often folding it and stretching it again many times, into strands thick or fine.
Cut and Shaved NoodlesNoodles and dough pieces shaved or taken straight off a dough, without rolling or pulling.
Rolled and Cut NoodlesNoodles made by rolling a dough into a thin sheet and cutting it into strips.
Extruded NoodlesNoodles made by pressing a dough through the holes of a press so that strands come out of them.
Hung Dried NoodlesDried wheat noodles made by sheeting and cutting a dough and hanging the strands to dry so that they keep.
Instant NoodlesFactory-made dried noodle products eaten after soaking in hot water or a short boil.
Rice NoodlesStrand-shaped foods made of rice, either round strands pressed out or flat ones cut from a steamed rice sheet.
Steamed Sheet NoodlesFoods made by steaming a rice batter, or a wheat batter with the gluten washed out, into a thin skin and cutting it into strips, usually dressed and eaten cold.
Starch NoodlesStrand-shaped foods made from bean or tuber starch, mostly dried before sale and soaked before eating.
Coarse-Grain NoodlesNoodles and similar foods whose main material is a coarse grain such as buckwheat, oat or maize.
Summer SolsticeShortest noon shadow, longest day: high summer approaches