A Brief History of Pasta

Rigatoni! Your humble blogger's favorite pasta.

Who doesn't like pasta? No one, that's who. Pasta may be the world's most popular food. When most people think of pasta, they think of Italian food. That's because Italians made it famous. Other ethnic and regional people's have pasta-like food they love. The Germans and Hungarians, for instance, have their spaetzle. But spaetzle ain't pasta. Not even close.  By the way, have you ever heard someone speaking in Hungarian? I have.  A bunch of times. It sounds a little bit like Italian, but not as pretty.

Marco Polo: Famous Italian Traveler

There are many theories about the origins of pasta. Some say Marco Polo brought it back from China. But Marco Polo, in his writings, never said anything about pasta, macaroni, or noodles even though, I'm pretty sure, he sucked a noodle or two down when he visited China in the 13th century.

More than a thousand years before Marco Polo went to China and brought some things back -- even if it wasn't pasta but might have been a popular water-sport game that's still played in millions of swimming pools each summer -- the 1rst century B.C. Roman, Quintus Horatius Flaccus, called Horace in the English speaking world, wrote about a dish called lagana which, no doubt, eventually became lasagna. Horace's references described a food that was very pasta-like, but in a lasagna-like sort of way.

There are also historical references to pasta-ish food being prepared by the Greeks in the 2nd century A.D. and the Arabs in the 4th and 5th centuries, A.D.  But I guess their pasta-like dishes weren't all that popular and didn't have much staying power amongst those people or elsewhere. I mean, who thinks of Greek food or Arab food when they're thinking of pasta? Again, no one. That's who.

So, let's just say that, for all intents and purposes, Italians invented pasta... leastwise, what most of the world thinks of as pasta. I mean, who thinks of Italian food when they're thinking of pasta? Everyone. That's who.

Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci

By the way, pasta-making machines were invented in Italy a very long time ago, in Renaissance times. (The Renaissance was another great Italian invention because that's where it started, in Italy.) Dried pasta, which they made with those machines, has a long shelf-life and was often taken aboard ships for long ocean voyages. Both Christopher Columbus (an Italian who is generally credited with discovering America, at least by and for the Western World) and Amerigo Vespucci (another Italian explorer, one who America is named after) no doubt had plenty of pasta on board their sailing vessels. That's so cool! Not only is pasta one of the most delicious foods on the planet, one that can be prepared in so many awesome ways with so many sauces and more, it's also one of the most practical foods ever invented! That's due to its ability to be stored for long periods. Just cook it with water! What's simpler than that? Nothing. That's what.

A wise man once said that anything can be made complex or complicated, but it takes pure genius to make things simple. Are all Italians geniuses? Probably not. If you knew my cousin Salvatore, called "Sonny" by all, you'd know that's not so. But pasta is definitely a genius-inspired food! So, what does that tell you about Italians? Plenty. That's what.