Issue Four: Noodles

editor’s note

“T​​his is a portrait of the noodle in New Mexico; a portrait of  how a long string of dough, served in a soup or smothered in sauce, serves as a conduit of sustenance and warmth and memory. It’s a glimpse into the ways an ancient technology, designed to be saturated with flavor and to tangle on the plate, twist and slide, break with a bite, can be slurped deep into the mantle and magma of your belly and your bones. It’s a map in a meal, noodles stretching across oceans to high desert and piñon-studded mountains, twirled in Bolognese or steeped in slow-simmered broths; it’s an ode to travel and a gift of migrations. It’s an argument that monuments to joy are meant to be eaten. It’s a reminder to make dinner plans with a long-lost friend. It’s a fragrant breath of steam rising from a bowl on a chilly night.