Italian pasta has been a dietary staple for generations. You might think that’s all you have to know about pasta, right? Let us tell you that you’re wrong! Here are 11 unknown facts that you probably didn’t know about these so-called Italian noodles!
Italy isn’t the first country where delicious pasta was enjoyed!
- Italian Pasta was initially eaten in China, not Italy. Most of the pasta lovers might think that it has been invented in Italy, however, the first recorded reports of people eating the same came from China, in the early 5,000 B.C. There was an explorer named Marco Polo who introduced the noodles to Italy in the late 12th century. But, the historical records show that pre-roman Etruscan civilization was already making their own pasta by smashing the grain with rocks and blending it with water to create dough in 500 B.C.
- Tomato Sauce Came Later! You’d be surprised to know that tomato sauce came very late when people had already been eating pasta for around 1000 years and nobody thought of adding tomato sauce to it. This was because tomatoes were not native in Europe and weren’t introduced until the Spanish explorer Cortez entered the picture. He brought tomatoes from Mexico in the year 1519. And soon, tomatoes and pasta became an iconic combination in Italy.
- Pasta has 600 Different Shapes. Surprised? Yes, it has been recorded by the International Pasta Organization that there are more than 600 distinct shapes of pasta all around the globe. So, what are you waiting for? Check out the spaghetti pasta online!
- Thomas Jefferson was the one who brought pasta to America. He was the third president of the U.S. and was credited with being the first one to introduce pasta to America in the year 1789.
- It’s known as Italian pasta because ‘Italians Eat the Most Pasta’! Italy is the country that eats the greatest amount of it worldwide. Tunisia is the third and Venezuela is the second most country when it comes to eating pasta.
- According to the International Pasta Organization, Italians ate an average amount of spaghetti shaped pasta than the other shapes. They ate around approx 600 million km of spaghetti which was enough noodles to wrap around the planet for 15,000 times.
- America’s Favourite Pasta Is penne, spaghetti, and rotini. This was researched on the Barilla World Pasta Day survey in the year 2013.
- There are different meanings of the word ‘Pasta’. The origins were from the greek and Latin word ‘pasta’ that meant barley porridge and ‘dough pastry cake’ in Greek and Latin. In Italian, it means the way it is because of the way it’s made i.e. by mixing the water and flour with other ingredients like olive oil and eggs.
- It’s been observed that eating pasta makes people happy. And that’s true. There are carbohydrates in the pasta which increases the production of serotonin that triggers a feeling of happiness and well-being in people. Since then, people are buying fresh pappardelle pasta online to enjoy yummy treats with their family.
- There are different types of sauces for different kinds of pasta. Not all pasta are the ones that are enjoyed with the sauces. Long and flat pasta is best paired with the creamy sauces so that it clings better to the pasta shape. Chunkier and thicker tomato sauce goes well with the pasta that’s spiral, tubular, and short in shape.
- This is the most amazing fact about pasta. Spaghetti grows on trees! There was a documentary that was aired on the BBC in the year 1957 which showed women harvesting noodles from the spaghetti trees. The location was Switzerland.