Vermicelli (Italian, literally, 'little worms') are a type of pasta, round in section and somewhat thinner than spaghetti.
In 14th-century Italy, extra-fine spaghetti had varying local names. "Master Barnaba da Reatinis from Reggio Emilia notes that Tuscan vermicelli are called orati in Bologne, minutelli in Venice, fermentini in Reggio and pancardelle in Mantua." [1]
The first mention of a vermicelli recipe is in the book De arte Coquinaria per vermicelli e maccaroni siciliani (The Art of Cooking Sicilian Macaroni and Vermicelli), compiled by the famous Maestro Martino da Como, unequalled in his field at the time and perhaps the first celebrity chef, who was the chef at the Roman palazzo of the papal chamberlain ("camerlengo"), the Patriarch of Aquileia. In Martino's Libro de arte coquinaria, there are several recipes for vermicelli, which can last two or three years (doi o tre anni) when dried in the sun.
The term rice vermicelli is often used to describe the thin, transparent rice noodles (米粉) popular in South-East Asia, also known as bee hoon in Hokkien or mai fun in Cantonese.
The fideo is a type of noodle, popular in Mexican cuisine, often referred to in English as "vermicelli."
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References
Silvano Serventi and Françoise Sabban, Pasta: The Story of a Universal Food, 2002, in the series Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History
