Food is one of the greatest things associated with Italy, and Italian food usually means pasta. There is a debate as to where pasta came from, but many believe Marco Polo brought it over in his traveling to China. In these days, the pasta wasn’t boiled; it was baked in the oven. It was only a few centuries later that the pasta started to be boiled. The word macaroni comes from the Sicilian term for kneading dough with a lot of energy. Back in those days, making pasta dough required a lot of work, time, and energy to make. In the 1300’s, different shapes of pasta started to be made, and pasta started to spread across the globe.
Today there are about 350 different shapes of pastas, and the average Italian eats about 60 pounds of pasta per year, while the average American eats about 20 pounds per year. Pasta can either be fresh or dried. Fresh pasta is made to be eaten “soft”. Fresh pasta would be considered homemade pasta and what they ate before they had boxed dried pasta. Dried pasta is boiled until it is al dente. Firm to the teeth, yet still tender.
There are so many different types of pastas out there, and so many different ways to prepare them. Without the Italians we wouldn’t have any of these delicious meals, and I, as well as the rest of the world thanks them for discovering such a delicious food.
Fall 2013 IT 100 
Buona sera Melissa,
I loved your topic and the history behind its origin and how pasta was baked at the beginning and then given different shapes. I am a pasta lover and I never get tired of trying different shapes and textures. Although I like dry pasta, my favorite is still the fresh variety and I love when it is just al dente, 🙂 My favorite combination: aglio, olio e pepperoncino! (garlic, olive oil and cayenne pepper).