The Noodle Road: A Pasta Film and Tasting

Watch a documentary on noodle history.

That quick pasta dish you toss together for dinner? It originated thousands of years ago in some unknown kitchen in China. This Thursday, you can learn how pasta came to be and taste some yourself at at a screening of the KBS documentary The Noodle Road at the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles.

The KBS production team spent two years tracing the spread of noodles throughout Asia, Europe and the Middle East, filming in 10 countries. With the aid of computer graphics, the documentary brings to life dramatic events in noodle history in Japan and China. The narrator and host is Chinese chef and cookbook author Ken Hom.

A discussion follows the screening, which is free. Then stay on to taste a Korean noodle dish called janchi guksu. It's a special occasion dish based on wheat flour noodles in anchovy broth with zucchini and egg garnishes and a spicy sauce. How's that for an after-the-show snack?

The Noodle Road screens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Ari Hall at the Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, 5505 Wilshire Blvd.; (323) 936-7141.