When is a Ravioli not a Wonton?  When it is Kreplach!  The more you delve into the history of foods, the more you can see that the basics of each regional cuisine are often the same.  Flour, water, egg, and salt have been used universally over the past 2000 years as the starting point for a major portion of our diets.  The resulting mixtures can be rolled, stuffed, baked, fried or boiled. These basic four ingredients can be the stars of an elegant gourmet feast, or the barest nutrition for a nation in the midst of famine. 

There has always been a debate over who discovered “pasta” first.  For many years, the belief was that Marco Polo had discovered noodles in China in his travels across the Orient in the 13^th century, however there has been mention of a lasagna-type noodle  in Italy from as early as the 1^st century AD, and in the middle ages in Sicily, dry pasta was eaten by the Arabs who ruled this area at that time.  The fact that the discovery of pasta (or noodles) was simultaneous in cultures all over the globe should not be surprising, as we are looking at a food that is so  basic.  Only the names  given to the finished product have been changed.

Ravioli are the Italian version of dumplings made of noodle dough filled with a variety of cheese, meat or vegetables.  They are usually boiled and served with a cream, cheese or tomato sauce.  Chinese-style ravioli are called won-tons and Jewish-style ravioli are known as Kreplach.  The form of noodle known as ravioli also could be found in England by the 14^th century, and in medieval times, was known in the south of France as “rauioles”. 

All over Asia, the dumpling form of noodle  known as “Mantou” was being eaten.  This family of dishes was served from China to Turkey, with each region giving the dishes its own name.  The origin of the word mantou is not known, although in Chinese it means “barbarian heads”, and I don’t want to even go there!  The Chinese characters for wonton mean “swallowing clouds”.  I think that this has a far more appetizing appeal.  These Chinese ravioli are usually filled with a mixture of meat, seafood and vegetables.  They may be boiled, steamed or deep-fried and are the intrinsic ingredient in wonton soup.

The word for the Jewish ravioli known as Kreplach comes from the German word Krepp, meaning crepe.  The similarity of the noodle dough which is rolled and folded and stuffed in a large variety of ways does resemble the French crepe in some ways.  The Kreplach is a triangular-shaped dumpling and is usually filled with minced meat or chicken, and often added to chicken soup.