What? Pasta not from Italy? Yes. The tale of pasta is not quite what we all assume. It does have a very long history and it’s very multicultural. To begin, what about Marco Polo? He probably brought a rice noodle to Italy. But it turns out that rice noodles were in Italy well before Marco Polo. The Romans had pasta and so did the Greeks and the Arabs. Pasta equals eggs, salt, flour and water. Yum. Now mix in some olive oil with ground basil, grat-ed parmesan, pine nuts, a clove of garlic for good measure and maybe an anchovy or two.
Early Spanish settlers brought pasta to the United States. Given that fact, it’s no surprise that pasta in Spain is as ubiquitous as pasta in Italy. Called fideos, they are similar to spa-ghetti and angel hair pasta fashioned into a pasta nest of sorts. You break the fideos into smaller pieces and tossed them into food – a dish or a sauce - while cooking. Awesome. Spain and Pasta! Who knew!
