|
Cooking Italian Menu
|
| The History of Pasta in Italian Food |
The History of Pasta in Italian Food
The most widely recognized element of Italian food today is pasta. Pasta is a signature of Italian food in all parts of the globe. It is easy to store and prepare and therefore became the ambassador of Italian food to the world. Pasta has a much older history than other common dishes in Italian food like pizza and tomato sauce.
There are many myths surrounding the time when pasta actually entered into Italian food. The most common of these myths is that Marco Polo introduced it to the country from his extensive travels. However, pasta was already a part of Italian food during Marco Polo's life. To get to the heart of the matter you must travel even further back in history. In fact the most accepted theory on the introduction of pasta to Italian food takes us back to the eighth century. During this time the Arab invasions greatly influenced Italian food and are the most likely start of pasta's life in Italy.
Since the wheat used for this early pasta thrived in Italy, it quickly spread and by the 1300's dried pasta was immensely popular and found all over the country. The appeal of pasta to Italian food was its nutrition and its long shelf life. These factors made pasta a great candidate for long ship voyages and because of this it was one of the first Italian foods to be introduced to the world. By the time pasta made its world debut much advancement had been made and there were many different shapes and forms of pasta being used in Italian food. The Italians had also developed ways to make pasta faster and more efficiently, making it an integral part of Italian food and Italian life.
The next important phase of pasta's development in Italian food was the introduction of the tomato of course. Today pasta and tomato sauce go hand in hand when thinking of Italian food, but the marriage wasn't made until 1839. Prior to this time tomatoes were just being introduced to the world from the Americas and many Europeans believed them to be poisonous. It took a long time for people to trust the tomato enough to eat it and include it in Italian food. However, once the tomato was accepted it was welcomed with open arms and took off in Italian food, especially in the southern regions of Italy.
Today one only has to look at the numbers to see just how big a role pasta plays in Italian food. Italians eat over three times as much pasta as Americans. Their pasta consumption is over sixty pounds per person per year. It's no wonder that pasta is considered the cornerstone of Italian food. In fact, pasta is used so extensively in Italian food that Italy must import most of its wheat in order to keep up with the demand. This popularity of pasta and Italian food has caused pasta to be mass produced. This has lead to an inferior quality of pasta being used in American Italian food. The best pasta is still found in Italy where they stick to the same recipes handed down through the generations. A true Italian food lover must try some authentic pasta made in Italy if they want to capture the authentic taste of Italian food.
|
Cooking Italian Resources
All About Risotto in Italian Food There is really no definitive answer as to how rice arrived in Italy. However, ...
read more
Anchovies in Italian Food Anchovies are a very important part of the flavor of Italian food. However, many people, even ...
read more
Buying Italian Food Online There seems to be a trend today to return to authentic Italian food. People are no ...
read more
Cheap Italian Food in Milan One of the highlights of traveling to Italy is naturally the Italian food. Milan in ...
read more
Friuli-Venezia Giulia Italian Food Italian food varies greatly throughout Italy and pairing down Italian food to just the fifteen or ...
read more
Holiday Italian Food Have you ever wanted to celebrate the holidays with Italian food? Maybe you want to try something ...
read more
How to Eat Italian Food in Italy If you want to get to the heart of Italian food, it's best ...
read more
Italian Food on a Date Want a romantic night out on the town? A fine Italian food restaurant is a ...
read more
Italian Food on the Go When most people think of having an Italian meal they think of sitting down at ...
read more
Learn to Cook Italian Food on Vacation It used to be that vacations were all about site seeing and relaxing. ...
read more
Learn to Make Italian Food Italian food has long been amongst the most popular food in the world. Everyday people ...
read more
Lombardy - The Other Side of Italian Food There are many different factors that merge to create the style of ...
read more
Making Italian Food With Pasta For many Italian food lovers and aspiring Italian food chefs, the first dish to be ...
read more
Popular Italian Food Restaurants Italian food is one of the most popular cuisines in the world. It has long been ...
read more
Popular Italian Food When people think of popular Italian food they most likely think of spaghetti, lasagna, or tortellini. However, ...
read more
Regional Italian Food When most people think of Italian food they think of dishes of spaghetti, lasagna, minestrone, and tortellini. ...
read more
Risotto and the Veneto Region Italian Food With so many different Italian food dishes it is hard to pick a ...
read more
Spaghetti Etiquette in Italian Food The most popular and widely recognized Italian food today is spaghetti. However, it seems that ...
read more
The Different Pastas in Italian Food There are two main categories of pasta used in Italian food, dried pasta and ...
read more
The History of Pasta in Italian Food The most widely recognized element of Italian food today is pasta. Pasta is ...
read more
The History of Pizza in Italian Food Italian food is unique amongst world cuisines in that it has birthed not ...
read more
The Italian Food Diet It seems recently that among health circles Italian food has gotten a bad rep. With the ...
read more
The Italian Food of Trentino-Alto Adige Italian food has a rich history. It draws on the influences of many different ...
read more
Tiramisu - The Italian Food Dessert Today Tiramisu is the most popular of Italian food desserts. It graces the menu ...
read more
Tuscan Italian Food Tuscany is one of the most well known regions in Italy. Many Italian food lovers find some ...
read more
|
|
|
Untitled
|
|
