Most specialists now agree that the origins of pasta go right back to the
discovery and cultivation of cereal crops. Representations of utensils in
an Etruscan tomb suggest that a kind of spelt-based pasta was already being
made on the Italian peninsula centuries before the Christian era.
Several Roman authors refer to a food called "lagana" (the origin
of the modern lasagna), and the oldest surviving cookbook from the Roman
period advises us to "use pliable lagane for enclosing savoury fillings
and pies".
Later, in the 12th century, an Arabic geographer records a thread-shaped
pasta produced near Palermo and extensively traded throughout the Mediterranean.
In the 17th century, the Neapolitans took the innovative step of eating
their pasta with tomatoes, which had become readily available with the discovery
of America. This heralded the demise of the sweet-sour combination which
until then had formed the basis of the local diet.
Although
widely appreciated and consumed by the poorer sectors of society, pasta
was avoided by the Italian nobility until the appearance, around 1800, of
the fork, which meant that pasta did not have to be eaten with the hands.
This discovery marked the beginning of the worldwide diffusion of Italian
pasta, which even today remains the pride of Italian cooking.
(Italianpasta)
Italy is a country of strong regional customs, and over time each region
has devised its own kinds of pasta with their own names: the pasta known
in Bologna as cappelletti is called agnolini in Mantua, or anolini in Parma,
where they're made in distinctive hat-like shapes; the agnolotti of Piedmont
can be either round or square, while in other regions they're known as ravioli,
tortelli or tortellini and come in squares, rectangles, triangles, crescents
or parcels.
Each region also has its own tradition with regard to the fillings: meat
in Romagna, green vegetables in Emilia, braised meats in Piemonte, herbs,
fish or meat in Liguria, meat and sausage in Tuscany, and so on.
Whatever it's called, though, filled pasta is loved and appreciated everywhere.
(Cookaround)
