Pasta is not Italian...or is it? Blog #2

What?! A clickbait title? But, historically, it is true that pasta is not Italian. For many, pasta is the epitome of Italian cuisine. Honestly I've always associated pasta to Italy as well, but my Chinese heritage led me to research that noodles were in China way before they were in Europe. So where is pasta from? Morocco!

Now the pasta I'm referring to are wheat based (either grano tenero or grano duro) and is categorized into five groups. There are gnocchi which are delicious dumplings. Then there is lasagna which is referring to the sheeted noodles not the layered deliciousness we refer to today. The third category is tagliatelle which is strips of pasta. The fourth pasta is tortellini which is a filling encased in pasta. These first four are considered  fresh pastas. There are two ways to make fresh pasta: pasta all'uovo (pasta with egg and uses grano tenero) and pasta acqua e farina (pasta of water and flour specifically grano duro.) The fifth and final type of pasta is pasta secco or dried pasta. From these five basic types of pasta you have your various shapes which I'm not going to go into.

Noodles in China were there way before pasta in Italy; however, this particular noodle was made from millet not wheat. Also time to clear up a common understanding, Marco Polo did not in fact bring the noodle to Italy. In fact it's not even clear what exactly he did do. He was a known liar. When he supposedly brought the noodle to Italy it was actually historically already there. Also it has been speculated that he didn't even go to China. It is more likely that he went to Mongolia which did not have noodles. So all these epics are probably based on his own lies, but the Netflix drama is very good. 

The one we talked about in class was someone named Al-Idrisi who, among many accomplishments, made a planisphere for Roger II. What is a planisphere? In this case it was a big, pretty inaccurate but I mean think about the times, map etched into a silver disk. Roger II not only commissioned Al-Idrisi for this map but he asked for a little book to go with it. In the book Al-Idrisi mentions itriyya which is what is now known as dried spaghetti. It is an Arabic word and probably came when the Moroccans and Muslims ruled parts of Italy including Sicily. Ain't history fascinating? Now it helped with the nomadic way of the Moroccans, but that doesn't mean it originated in Morocco. Making noodles ain't easy when you have to pack everything on camels. Actually itriyya was the Arabic translation of the Greek word and then the linguistic genealogy is a bit unclear.  So is pasta originally from Italy? no. Is pasta Italian? Yes. At this point Italy accepted and integrated pasta into their cuisine, culture, and daily lives. 

This past weekend I went on a trip to Umbria. Where is Umbria? It's a region north of Rome and basically around the center of Rome. While it was a pretty interesting time in terms of architecture, history, and mummies (yes there is a freaking mummy museum, SO AWESOME!!) it was also a bit of a culinary experience. Unfortunately again I was too enraptured by the food to remember to take photos and I didn't order the food so I couldn't tell you what exactly what we ate, but I do know we had liver, lentils, and caviar at one point (not all on the same dish.) A lot of our food was actually based on the food the poor used to eat way back in the day. We had toast with a sort of liver paté which is a call back to when the poor used to use every part of the animal so as not to waste. We also had a really great lentil stew (or maybe a soup? it was a lot of lentils in a liquid. Didn't ask, just ate) served with a slightly spiced sausage. This harkens back to when lentils were eaten a lot as a protein substitute. Interesting how plebeian food is now fine dining. But I'm not complaining it was all delicious. 

Back to pasta though. Almost every meal was a traditional Italian meal. It had the antipasto, primo, secondo with a contorno, and desert and lasted at least an hour. We tended to be late from spending way too much time eating. While I can't tell you every dish we ate I did happen to notice that the shape of the pasta was never the same and always perfectly matched with the sauce. There were pastas with ridges to help capture sauce and there was spaghetti with less sauce. Pasta is such a versatile food. Take that America! It's not simply spaghetti with marinara sauce and a few meatballs. Not only is it different than American pasta it is different in each part of the country. There is a bunch of traditional pasta recipes all over Italy depending on where you are located at the moment. Though some of these pasta dishes are incredibly complex you can also find the simple-yet-extremely-popular-everywhere-in-Italy aglio, olio, peperonchio.  What is this? In a nut shell it is spaghetti with garlic, olive oil, and peppers. Highly recommend! This is the last-minute-nothing-in-the-house, what-will-I-ever-give-them-to-eat kind of dish. Though there are many recipes to this you can really make it your own. 

My own personal version is more of an aglio olio because it gets rid of the pepper. (I'm not a fan of the spicy if you like it just add the peppers back or find your own recipe. Also most of cooking Italian or in general is based on your tastes, so don't time or follow to a T, just look for your personal tastes. I like to boil the water with salt, olive oil,  and a bit of garlic to flavor the water. Then add your pasta to cook. For the sauce heat up some garlic and olive oil. When the pasta is down pour the sauce on and your down. It's just that simple. Oh and I personally sprinkle in basil. 

This week, learning about pasta in both the historical and cuisine sense has been so fascinating. Although I may continue to forget to take pictures when I eat, I will definitely remember to appreciate the kind of pasta I am eating and the rich history, and flavors!

Ci vediamo dopo.