Historians credit the Chinese for making pasta from rice flour as early as 1700 B.C. Italians credit the Etruscans, who inhabited Central Italy, with inventing pasta around 400 B.C. They formed lasagna-type noodles using an ancient type of wheat known as spelt. The noodles were baked in an oven. The first reference to boiled pasta is found in the Aramaic writings of the Talmud, found in Jerusalem in the 5th century AD. The Arabs carried dried pasta on their journeys along the Silk Road. It is likely that boiled pasta was brought to Italy by the Arab conquests of Sicily in the 9th century AD.
It is a common misconception that pasta was brought to Italy by Marco Polo via China. Polo didn’t come back from China until 1295. Modern pasta was first described in 1154 by an Arab geographer, Idrisi, as being common in Sicily. So Marco Polo could not have brought pasta to Italy via China. It was already in Italy by that time.
By the 1300s, dried pasta had spread to Genoa. Genovese sailors, among the best traders in the Mediterranean, brought the pasta north from Sicily. Pasta was very popular for its nutrition and its shelf life, and was ideal for long ocean voyages. From the port of Genoa it traveled to other areas, including Provence and London. Genoa became a trade center, and then a producer, of dry pasta.
By the 1600s, hand-made pasta had emerged from the domain of the wealthy with the invention mechanized pasta production. Dough was extruded through a mechanical die, allowing for the large-scale, efficient production of pasta. Dry pasta quickly became a common food. For the common people, pasta was eaten with their hands, un-sauced. The wealthy, who did not eat with their hands, typically ate stuffed pastas. Around 1700, King Ferdinand popularized eating pasta with a fork, particularly useful for long strands of pasta like spaghetti. Though tomatoes had arrived in Europe by 1529, it would take 300 more years before their use for cooking was common. The first tomato sauce recipe dates around 1839.
You must be logged in to post a comment.