The Story of a Man, Shangxi, and How China Got its Tomatoes

The Story of a Man, Shangxi, and How China Got its Tomatoes

You may scoff when someone tells you that Italian pasta is just Shanxi’s oat noodles with a European twist. After all, both regions have their own spiral noodles: cat ears (猫耳朵, māo ěrduo) in Shanxi and Gemelli in Italy — dense, handmade pasta shapes that echo each other across continents. But what truly ties them together isn’t just the dough’s shape. It’s also all in the sauce. In Italy, tomato sauce is the heart of any pasta dish. In Shanxi, …