October is National Pasta Month, and October 17 recognizes National Pasta Day.
Pasta lovers celebrate!
- The first reference to pasta, in a book, was in 1154.
- In Italy, names of specific pasta shapes or types vary with locale.
- Example: Cavatelli is known by 28 different names depending on the region and town.
- There are over 600 types of pasta, and some have over 1300 names.
- There are approximately 350 shapes of pasta
- In Greek mythology, it is believed that the God Vulcan invented a device that made
strings of dough. This was the earliest reference to a pasta maker. - The three most popular pasta dishes are: macaroni cheese, spaghetti bolognaise
and lasagne. - Italians eat over sixty pounds of pasta, per person, per year.
- Italy produces 1,432,990 tons of pasta a year.
- Italy produces between 1,700,000 and 3,300,000 TONS of pasta per year.
- Spaghetto is the singular word for spaghetti
- Because pasta dough is so tough, workers would walk over large batches of dough to knead it and a single batch would take “a full day’s walking” to make.
- There are approximately 350 shapes of pasta
- The average Italian eats 60 pounds of pasta per year..While Americans eat just 26 pounds a year.
- Macaroni Hair Style. In the mid-eighteenth century, “macaroni” referred to an overblown hairstyle as well as to the dandy wearing it. The expression was coined after young English aristocrats returned home from a grand tour of Italy bringing with them foreign affectations.
- The first pasta factory in the U.S. was built in Brooklyn. Zerega was founded by a French immigrant (Antoine Zerega) in 1848 and is still making pasta today
- Many people assume that pasta probably came on the boats with the Italian immigrants seeking new opportunities in the New Land. That would be around 1890 – 1914. However, the actual introduction of pasta to the new American audience happened long before that. About 100 years before that, to be exact. It was in fact Thomas Jefferson – yes, the 3rd US President – who introduced Americans to the delicious food all the way back in the 18th century.
- Spaghetti Grows on Trees. April 1 in 1957, the BBC made everyone believe that spaghetti grows on trees. At the time, spaghetti was considered by many as an exotic delicacy. The spoof programme explained how severe frost can impair the flavour of the spaghetti and how each strand of spaghetti always grows to the same length. This is believed to be one of the first times television was used to stage an April Fools Day hoax.
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