History Of Pasta

The History of Pasta
It's not what you think!

In the History of Pasta there is no documentation of it coming from or being invented by any one person. We can safely say that Marco Polo was not responsible for Pasta being brought from China to Italy. In fact Pasta was well on it's way to becoming a big part of Italian food history when Marco Polo returned from his journey in 1296. Pasta had already become a huge trading commodity in Sicily, Cagliari and Sardinia.

It's also my regret that Pasta was not invented by a peasant woman in Lombardi by the name of Libista. Many a wife's tale claim she invented Ravioli and Lasagna.

So what is the history of Pasta and how did it get to Italy? Ultimately it is a combined effort of both human intelligence, creativity and evolution. Marco Polo and the peasant woman had nothing to do with the invention Pasta. Cute story though.

Historians also say that spaghetti was not native to the Mediterranean but originated in Arabic countries. Greeks had their share in the history of Pasta as well as China and the middle east. It was a combined effort of many countries, cultures and cooking styles.

The History of Pasta recipes:

Medieval Italian cookbooks contained recipes for lasagna, ravioli, linguini and vermicelli.

These are the first pasta shapes in the history of Italian food. Pasta recipes of the past involved small, fine pasta such as vermicelli cooked in soups, broths or in almond milk to create a gruel or mush. Sounds yummy. NOT!

Stuffed pasta in the middle ages were as little as bite-sized cakes (Tortellini means little cakes) and typically fried.

Losyngys was what we today consider lasagna. However you wouldn't recognize it by any lasagna recipe you would find in a restaurant of home kitchen today. I was layered but it had a sweet flavor rather then herbal and although it had cheese it didn't have any tomatoes.

Ravioli, even back in the early 14th century you'll find recipes for fillings of chicken as well as cheese.

Gnocchi in the 14th century was made in the same style as todays technique however instead of mashed potatoes they were made with flour and cheese.

The History of Dried Pasta VS Fresh Pasta:

Then came the integration of Dried Pasta. There was a lot of controversy over Fresh and Dried in Pasta history. Anything but fresh pasta was considered old food and should be discarded. Pasta snobs believed it was made with bad, substandard or old flour. It took many years before dried pasta migrated to the North from Sicily.

Northern Italians looked down upon such foods. Southerners, as far as Italian food history is concerned, were considered peasant farmers. But thanks to them they are responsible for some of our most delicious and popular Italian pasta recipes today. They are the heart beat of the history of pasta as we as a foodie culture know it.

Sicily was introduced to the technique of drying pasta by Arabs and boy did they ever learn. They became the center of trade in Dried Pasta dating back to the 12th Century. They had the home court advantage of having what most of the Mediterraneans believed then and now to be the best durum wheat in the world. Sicily's only rival for producing pasta in the middle ages was Sardinia and several centuries later pasta production was growing in satellite regions such as Naples and Amalfi Coast but as a whole Southern Italy did dominate the production of Dried Pasta.

The History of Pasta Manufacturing:

The Golden Age of Manufacturing Pasta dates back to the 1600's when you saw a large migration and population of manufacturing plants all the way up the coast to San Remo. The introduction of the Extrusion press and brake had taken full force in the industry.

It was becoming the opine that Pasta made by the extrusion press was superior to the pasta made by hand. The consistency of the pasta shapes and the texture were identical from one piece of pasta to the next. An impossibility when making homemade pasta.

The trend crossed the country rapidly from then on migrating to Genoa, Apulia, Brindisi. In Bari in the mid 1700's five manufacturers of pasta were registered in the city registry to have had extrusion presses.

In Tuscany in the city of Arezzo the Pacifico Fabianelli began operation in 1860 and still is in operation today.

Shortly after that in 1867 in the upper Tiber Valley far from the fields of durum wheat, major trade routes and without easy access to the sea the Buitoni Company would be founded and not only prosper to this day but has become one of the leading pasta manufactures on earth.

Now there are pasta manufacturing plants all over Italy and the first pasta manufacturing plant in the United States was established in 1848 in Brooklyn. The second largest population of Italians in the world.