I come from the Philippines where noodles are very popular. It was introduced by the Chinese into the Philippines and since then it has been adopted to local cuisine. According to Wikipedia, the term pancit is derived from the Hokkien pian i sit (Chinese: 便ê食; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: piān-ê-si̍t or Chinese: 便食; pinyin: biàn shí) which means "something conveniently cooked fast." Noodles or pancit, as the Filipinos call