I’m here to give you a brief history of pasta. Before we begin, let’s define pasta. The dictionary defines pasta as “any dough extruded, pulled, or cut into different shapes usually boiled in water”. Though pasta is usually associated with Italy, it originated in China during the Shang dynasty (1600 – 1500 BC), where it was made of wheat or rice flour. Africa also had its own form of pasta made of kamut crop. It also appears to be a part of the Greek diet in the first millennium BC.

    Pasta in Italy began to take shape around 400 BC. There is archeological evidence of pasta in the Etruscan civilization in the modern-day areas of Lazio, Umbria, and Tuscany. Pasta in Italy flourished during the renaissance and became a staple in Rome and Florence. As time passed it became available in shops in a dried form. It steadily gained popularity until the 1900s when it became a staple of Italian cuisine and is still evolving to this day. Although Italians cannot claim they invented pasta, they did make it what it is today.

    More specifically the first kind of pasta was those classic long strands. In ancient China, during the renaissance, the Romans invented gnocchi, a potato-based pasta. Later the noble Marcus Apicius would record a reference to a meat-filled dumpling-like pasta.  In the middle ages, Nobels would hire to roll pasta which would be served in a stew. In the archives of the town of Genoa, a sailor records an early form of fettucini, a long flat noodle, which was a well-known staple on his ships. From then on innovations in technology and thinking would allow for the creation of more unique pasta including lasagna and ravioli.