History of Spaghetti

It is often claimed that Marco Polo brought spaghetti to Italy after his travels to China. However, historical references to pasta exist in Italy prior to Polo's return and, in any case, the Chinese method of cooking pasta is quite different to the Italian. References to pasta-like doughs have been found amongst the Ancient Greeks and Romans, but it is thought that it was actually the Arabs who brought this type of noodles to Italy during their conquest of Sicily.

For a long time the noodles were eaten dry. In fact, the tomato was considered to be poisonous as it is a member of the Deadly Nightshade family. The first recorded recipe for a tomato and pasta sauce didn't come until 1839, when the Duke of Buonvicino came up with 'vermiceli co le pommodoro'.

The word spaghetti derives from the Italian 'spago', meaning 'thin string' or 'twine'. Under Italian law, dried spaghetti (and indeed all dried pastas) must be made with 100% durum wheat flour or durum wheat semolina. Outside Italy other flours are commonly used, such as wheat flour, though this results in softer pasta which cannot be cooked al dente in the traditional Italian way.

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