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Erik

Page history last edited by jh2 14 years, 4 months ago

PASTA HISTORY

By: Erik Johansson

 

Many students, and teachers for that matter, have been taught that the Chinese invented pasta and that Marco Polo brought it to Italy on his epic journey. But is that true? Pasta is old. But not old enough to predate written records. So we are now able to prove that Polo did not bring pasta to Italy for the first time. Or at least not the kind we eat today.

 

 

The original theory was that Marco Polo introduced Pasta to Italy. And, in fact, that is true. But not REAL pasta. Not the pasta we eat today. What he brought back from China was dumplings, essentially. Because if Polo brought back the first form of dry pasta to Italy in 1295, then why was dry pasta clearly written in a soldier’s inventory of provisions in 1279? And, why is there written records of pasta before Polo’s time? Because Pasta WAS in Italy before Polo’s time. Another belief was that the Etruscans invented pasta. The only proof that this is true is that in some old caves of theirs there are carvings of ingredients that could be used for making pasta. Not necessarily though. It is most definitely possible that the Etruscans once made a type of noodle as early as the first century AD. But again, it was not quite like pasta today, it was closer to pizza or dumplings.

 

As I said before, the Chinese invented dumplings, not pasta. Of course, they didn’t call them dumplings. And I picture them bigger, similar to a stuffed pizza. They would often be stuffed with food such as fish. The Chinese have been thought to have been eating pasta-like foods since 3000 BCE and dumpling-like food since 1700 BCE. So even if Polo did bring dumplings to ITALY, he certainly was not part of the inventing of dumplings.

 

 

 

Now I will talk a little more about the kind of pasta that the Etruscans supposedly invented. The Etruscans called it lagane and the Romans called it laganon. Lagane is the origin of lasagna, mostly because it was baked in an oven instead of boiled, similar to the dumplings. Also like the dumplings, lagane was similar to pizza, like lasagna. What is interesting about lagane in particular, is that it was made with the same durum wheat as we make pasta out of today. That is why some people believe that the Etruscans invented our pasta.

 

 

 

Well, now it is time for the truth. The real way that dry pasta traveled to Italy. It happened in the 8th century when the Arabs invaded Sicily, bringing the fantastic idea of dry pasta with them. This new dry pasta was ideal for long ocean journeys. This is because it could be stored, unlike the older version of pasta, which had to be eaten soon after the making.

 

 

 

Once dry pasta spread throughout Italy, in the 1300s, Genoa became the main trader and producer. Eventually, Genoa sailors would bring the idea of dried pasta north to places like London

 

 

 

In the 12th century, the first “factory” was made in Palermo that exported dry pasta. Dry pasta was also extremely popular on the streets. People called “maccaronaros” sold it after cooking it over a charcoal fire. The one problem with dry pasta was that, before it was made in factories, it was very expensive because people had to tread on the dough with their bare feet for at most a day before it was soft enough to work with. Although Genoa is big part of pasta history, so is Naples. Dry pasta was often dried in Naples because the weather varied from mild sea breezes to warm winds. So the pasta would not mold OR crack.

 

 

 

The first mention of a recipe for dry pasta is in the book The Art of Cooking Sicilian macaroni and Vermicelli. More important dates referring to pasta are that in 1700, there were only 60 pasta shops in Naples. But in 1785, there were 285 shops in Naples alone. Also, by the 1600s, there were machines to make pasta, which made it both easier to make and easier to afford.

 

 

 

A very interesting, and in a way hard to believe fact, is that before 1700, people used their hands to eat pasta. In 1700, a chamberlain to king Fernanded II, thought to use a fork to eat the long, string-like type of pasta. This spread quickly, and soon everybody was eating with a fork. One think that historians DO give Marco Polo credit for, is bringing yellow cherry tomatoes to Italy. But for a long time, they were regarded as poisonous and kept only for a decoration. That streak was broken when some desperate peasants decided to risk a bite of a yellow cherry tomato. It turned out it was fantastic and eventually someone had the genius idea of mixing the tomatoes and pasta. Inventing tomato sauce. The first documented recipe for tomato sauce is 1839.

 

 

 

I have told you all about the history of pasta and, in a way dumplings. I have given you false hope that possibly Polo did bring pasta to Italy, and then confirmed that he only brought back dumplings. From making this presentation, I learned that Polo was certainly, and is certainly, given credit for more than what he did.Really, I have just told you the life of an amazing food: pasta.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

Demetri, Justin. Italian Pasta Through the Ages

. Life in Italy.   

 

 

InMamasKitchen, The History of Pasta

. InMamasKitchen.   

 

 

Karen Hochman, Rowann Gilman, and Ruth Katz , The History Of Pasta

. The Nibble.  

Volpi, Anna. a brief history of pasta

.   

 

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