The ancient Etruscans, who experienced a cultural blossoming in Italy between the 7th and 4th century BC, made pasta by grinding several cereals and grains and then mixing them with water, a blend that was later on cooked producing a tasty and nutritious food.
This is confirmed by an inscription on an Etruscan tombstone in Coveter, which is located northwest of Rome.
Between 1000BC and 800BC, the Greeks first mentioned the existence of laganon, a flat pasta sheet sliced into irregular strips that was later adopted by the ancient Romans with the plural name of laganae. It was used in soups of leek and chickpeas, a very popular Roman dish.
The term ‘macaroni,’ which is currently referred to as a long type of pasta, is found in the documents of Roman writers since the first centuries ‘after Christ.’ However, both the Etruscans and the Romans baked their noodles in an oven, so boiled pasta had yet to be born in Italy.
The development of pasta as a culinary art really takes off in the Renaissance. By the 14th century, pasta was a regular part of life in Rome and Florence.
Boiled pasta was invented by the Arabs. Traders from Arabia packed dried pasta on long journeys over the famed “Silk Road” to China. They carried it to Sicily during the Arab invasions of the 8th century.
Origin and the invention of pasta
