Why did wheat consumption of East Asia take the form of noodles and steamed bread, while in west Asia and Europe it was consumed as baked bread?
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I don’t claim to be a food anthropologist so take this with large doses of salt.
Bread is fairly universal in human civilization. There appears to be evidence of human bread making tens of thousands of years ago. If you live nomadically in a place where you’d have to carry water to survive, preparing food using less water is critical. Also, things like baked flat bread etc lasts longer so it can be prepared several days ahead of time and eaten while moving. Wheat (most breads) was likely first cultivated in the region that is known as Turkey today – which is geographically close to Europe.
Noodles are a more recent human invention comparatively speaking – believed to be around 4000 years old. The earliest traces of noodles are found in China although forms of it probably exist in various cultures. Noodles can be made out of a variety of grains and grasses including rice. Rice is a common staple of east and south east asia – it cannot easily be made into baked dough breads though since it has no gluten. Rice flour is easily made into flat sheets, dumplings and noodles.
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