Pasta

Pasta is a food made from a dough of wheat flour or semolina, mixed with water and often eggs, shaped into many forms and usually cooked in boiling water. Although it is most closely linked to Italian cuisine, its history stretches across Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas.

History

Ancient wheat-based noodles have been found in China, and some researchers have also pointed to traces in Anatolia, although the origins of these traditions appear to be largely independent. In China, wheat noodles were already well established during the Han dynasty, and the practice of boiling strips of dough spread westward along the Silk Road to Central Asia and Persia, where it was known as laksha.

In Italy, the firmest sources place the spread of dried pasta in the Middle Ages. Some Italian writers have argued that the Etruscans were already making it, but most food historians consider the archaeological evidence insufficient. Greek and Roman cuisine had doughs that resemble pasta, such as the fried sheets mentioned by Horace or the layered dish in a 5th-century cookbook, but their methods of cooking do not match modern pasta. What is documented is that boiled dough reached Sicily through Arab influence, where it was called itriya, and from there spread across the peninsula. The first concrete references to pasta in Italy date from the 13th and 14th centuries, in a context of busy Mediterranean trade.

Dried pasta was especially practical because it kept well and could be transported, which helped its use on long sea voyages. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Naples had machines for kneading and pressing, and in 1740 a licence for one of the first factories was issued in Venice. In the 19th century, mills separated semolina from bran more effectively and production grew. In the early 20th century, artificial drying and extrusion allowed more varied shapes and larger volumes for export. Tomatoes arrived in Italy in the 16th century and entered cooking in the 17th, and the earliest known written recipe for pasta with tomato sauce is from 1790, by the Roman chef Francesco Leonardi.

Pasta spread to Europe, the Americas and other regions, largely through Italian emigration and colonial expansion. In Tunisia it was adapted with tomato paste and harissa, and in Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea it arrived with the Italian presence in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Culture

In Italy pasta is a central part of everyday meals and celebrations, and the country has one of the highest per-person consumption rates in the world. It is usually served as a first course, in soups or in baked dishes, and cooking it al dente is part of the culinary identity. Italian cooking is also highly regional: the north favours butter and béchamel, with egg pastas such as tagliatelle with Bolognese ragù or the pesto of Genoa, while the south uses durum semolina with sauces of tomato, vegetables, olives, capers or seafood.

The range of shapes is very large. Long pastas include spaghetti and pappardelle, short ones include penne and fusilli, small pastas are used in soups, and filled pastas include ravioli, tortellini and agnolotti. Many shapes go by different names depending on the town, so no single list is definitive.

Outside Italy, pasta has been absorbed into local cuisines. In Argentina and Brazil Italian influence is strong, and in Brazil the word macarrão is used for almost any pasta. In Panama spaghetti is called macarrones, a usage possibly an archaism from the Italian maccheroni. In Peru, red and green tallarines adapt Italian recipes, and in Venezuela it is often eaten with ketchup or mayonnaise. Hong Kong and Nepal also have their own adapted versions. Today most pasta is made industrially, although handmade production survives in many places.

Trivia