The first time I even thought of pasta as culturally interchangeable was when my aunt used angel hair instead of rice vermicelli in a noodle stir-fry. I was aghast, then we ate, and it was a lightbulb moment!
Access was not the issue – they have plenty of Asian stores around – she just didn’t want to store more than 3-4 types of pasta at home. (As opposed to some of us here 
)
