La Storia della Pasta (The History of Pasta)

Above, preparazione della pasta nel XIV secolo. (pasta preparation in the 14th century).

Origins

Pasta, which is so closely linked to Italian culture, is in fact a universal  foodstuff whose origins can be traced back to l’età neolitica, circa 8000 a.C. (the new stone age, around 8000 B.C.), when man first learnt to cultivate cereals, grind grain, and mix it with water to form a paste which was then dried in the sun for conservation.

The Chinese

In Lajia, north western China, a 4000 year old plate of spaghetti was discovered buried under 3 meters of sediment, it was probably well past its data di scadenza (‘best before’ date)! This, however, is the earliest datable evidence of the existence of pasta. Yet the Chinese invention of pasta is generally considered independent from that of the West, especially because all’epoca (at that time) the Chinese didn’t use frumento (wheat), which is characteristic of European and Arabic pasta.

The Etruscans

In fact, evidence of pasta production has been found in the archeological remnants of Greek, Roman, Etruscan, and Arabic culture. In the Etruscan tomb of Grotta Bella, at Cerveteri, for example, which dates back to  il IV secolo a.C. (the forth century B.C.),  there is evidence of implements such as la spianatoia, il mattarello e la rotella per tagliare (the working surface, the rolling pin, and the cutting wheel), tools which are still used today in pasta production.

The Greeks and Romans

The Greek authors Aristofane and Orazio describe a pasta of flour and water, rolled out and cut into slices, which they call làganon (Greek) or laganum (Latin). In the south of Italy the word lagane or laina is still used to describe this type of pasta which, although originally considered a dish for the poor, managed to acquire enough status in ancient Rome to be included in the fourth edition of De re coquinaria (The Culinary Art), a collection of recipes compiled in 230 d.C. (230 A.D.) by the Roman cook Celio, and attributed to the gastronome Apicio. Apicio describes in minute detail the condiments which were usually served with laganum, but unfortunately neglects to include the instructions for their preparation!

Arabic Culture and the Italian Peninsula

The 9th century Arabian musician and passionate gastronome Ziryab, described dishes prepared with a flour and water paste very similar to modern day pasta. In about 1145, Al-Idrisi, the renowned Berber geographer and traveler, was invited to the court of il re Normanno Ruggero II di Sicilia (the Norman king Ruggero II of Sicily). In his book ‘Libro di Ruggero II’ Al-Idrisi describes the village of Trabia, 30 km from Palermo, a village of mills where a string like pasta called itrya (from the Arabic itryah) was produced. This pasta was exported aboard ships bound for ports, both Muslim and Christian, throughout the Mediterranean.

To be continued …