Its Pasta Time

Is it Pasta?

Is it noodles?

What is the origin?

Who discovered it?

What is the story of one of the most versatile and loved foods on the planet?

Pasta has been with us a lot longer than most people think.  Often linked with Marco Polo after travelling to China in the 13^th Century, that has since been proven a myth as noodles have existed in Africa and around the Mediterranean in various forms at least 2 centuries before Marco Polo was born. A myth started around the 1920s as part of an advertising campaign for Canadian Spaghetti.

The earliest known examples of Pasta/ Noodles appearing were among the Shang Dynasty in China around 3500 BC. They would use wheat or rice flour to make noodles. Pasta also appears to be a feature in the ancient Greek diet in the first millennium BC. Likewise, Africa had its own form of pasta made with Kamut crops.

The first evidence of Pasta appearing in Italy was as early as the fourth century BC. There is archeological evidence for the existence of pasta in the Etruscan civilization, which flourished in the regions we now call Lazio, Umbria and Tuscany.

While noodle-like foods appeared independently in ancient Greece and Italy, Arab traders significantly influenced the Mediterranean, introducing dried, durable pasta shapes during the 8th and 9th centuries, which spread widely through Sicily. And evidence of pasta dishes appeared in Italian recipe books in the early 11^th Century.

The word Pasta comes from the word Pastiness. A term to refer to the texture of the dough.

By 1154, Arab geographer al-Idrisi recorded massive production and export of string-like pasta called itriyya (the first appearance of spaghetti like pasta) from Sicily. Later, Naples became the capital of pasta production due to its breezy, coastal climate which was ideal for natural air-drying.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, dried pasta became popular for its easy storage. This allowed people to store pasta on ships when exploring the New World. A century later, pasta was present around the globe during the voyages of discovery.

Although tomatoes were introduced to Italy in the 16th century and incorporated in Italian cuisine in the 17th century, description of the first Italian tomato sauces dates from the late 18th century. The first written record of pasta with tomato sauce can be found in the 1790 cookbook L'Apicio Moderno by Roman chef Francesco Leonardi.

For centuries, pasta was eaten plain or with cheese and spices. Tomatoes, introduced to Europe from the Americas, weren't paired with pasta until the late 18th century. The first written recipe for pasta with tomato sauce appeared in 1790 in chef Francesco Leonardi’s L'Apicio Moderno.

By the 18th century, Naples became a major producer, and as pasta became more affordable, it became a staple food.

After serving as an ambassador to France, Thomas Jefferson brought the first macaroni machine to the United States in 1789.

Italian immigrants brought pasta to the U.S. and beyond, transforming it into a global staple

The 19th century introduced industrial pasta factories, with the first American factory appearing in Brooklyn in 1848.

The mass influx of Italian immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries truly cemented pasta's popularity in America, leading to the creation of iconic Italian-American dishes like spaghetti and meatballs.