This is Sleepy History. Sleepy History is a production of Slumber Studios. To listen ad-free, get access to bonus episodes and support the ongoing production of this show, check out our premium feed. This is The Sleepy History of Pasta, narrated by Jessica Gersell, written by Alexandra Turney. The story of pasta is rather tangled, a bit like a plate of spaghetti. As you pick up a forkful, it can be hard to keep it all together.
and to work out exactly where each piece begins and ends. How was pastor eaten during the Renaissance, and why was it nearly banned in Italy in the 1930s? We'll try our best to answer these questions and more as we trace the story of this dish through its many names, and forms. So just relax and let your mind drift as we explore the sleepy history of pasta.
Our story begins not, as you might expect, in Italy, but in Asia, with the invention of noodles. In 2005, archaeologists in China discovered a bowl containing 4,000-year-old noodles made from millet. There are also written records mentioning noodles. that date back to the Eastern Han Dynasty, around the early 1st century CE. That's a long time before pasta officially appeared in Italy. So, does that mean the Chinese invented pasta? Well, not necessarily.
Many would argue that pasta is an Italian invention and that noodles are something different. They're separate foods which were invented independently. Still, let's consider the similarity between pasta and noodles, at least in general terms. Both are made from unleavened dough and are often cut or stretched into long, thin strips. Then, both pasta and noodles are usually boiled and served with a sauce. So, it seems right to acknowledge that technically, China got there first.
However, when pasta made its first appearances in Italy, it had nothing to do with Chinese noodles. There have been some foreign influences on Italian pasta. Something we'll come back to later. But there's no evidence that the early pasta makers took inspiration from China.
It seems that the Italian explorer Marco Polo inadvertently caused some confusion. Born in Venice, Marco Polo traveled to Asia in the early 13th century. And when he returned to Italy, he described an unusual tree that he'd seen on his travels. which could be used to make a starchy food like pasta. This description was misinterpreted, leading to the myth that Marco Polo brought pasta to Italy from China. In fact, the so-called pasta tree was more likely the sago palm.
This tree produces a starch that can be used to make a kind of bread, not pasta. But the association stuck, and the myth endured. Even though Polo would have already been familiar with pasta as something that was eaten in his native country, There's evidence that by the 13th century, pasta existed in Italy. So, who knows? Perhaps Marco Polo even felt a little homesick on his travels in Asia. Maybe he missed the food from back home and craved a comforting plate of pasta.
If 13th century Italians like Marco Polo were already eating pasta, that raises a few questions. For example, when was it first produced in Italy? Unfortunately, we don't know for sure. The exact origins of pasta in Italy are hard. to pin down and continue to be debated. But one possibility comes from the Etruscans. This was the civilization that dominated central Italy before the Romans, between the 8th and 4th centuries BCE.
The Etruscans lived in regions including present-day Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio. They were a powerful, sophisticated civilization, and they may, quite possibly, have invented pasta. So, here's the evidence. There's a tomb in the Etruscan town of Saveturi, dating to the 4th century BCE, which is decorated with stucco reliefs or sculptures. One relief appears to depict pasta-making equipment, including a pastry board and rolling pin. For some historians,
This is quite convincing. It suggests that the Etruscans made pasta, and that they were probably the first people in Italy to do so. But others aren't so sure. Besides, even if the artwork does show equipment for making pasta, It's probably not pasta as we think of it. The Etruscans are believed to have eaten a kind of food known as testoroli. It's thin and spongy, and arguably more like bread or a pancake than pasta. Most likely, that's what the artwork shows.
tools for producing testaroli. Whether or not you agree that testaroli is pasta, it's certainly ancient. And if you're curious, it's a dish you can still eat today. You'll find it on the menus of some restaurants in Liguria and Tuscany. where it's typically served with pesto sauce. The Etruscans gradually disappeared as a new civilization took over Italy, the Romans. We know quite a lot about what ancient Romans ate. There are archaeological findings such as ashes, bones,
and food preserved by the eruption of Vesuvius, as well as ancient recipe books. The diet of the average ancient Roman consisted of a lot of cereals, legumes, fruits and vegetables, as well as eggs and cheeses. Fish was popular, and so was meat, though it was something of a luxury. It goes without saying that pizza had yet to be invented. But what about pasta? Some have suggested that the ancient Romans invented lasagna.
From the first century onwards, there are references to a kind of rolled out pastry dough known as trakta or lagana. A second century recipe explains how to make a form of lagana. It consists of sheets of dough made from wheat flour. So far, so good. But these sheets of dough are then mixed with the juice of a crushed lettuce and some spices before being deep-fried in oil. So, not much like lasagna after all. Then there's a recipe from the early 5th century that describes another dish.
also called lagana, layers of dough and meat stuffing. Although these recipes sound vaguely similar to modern lasagna, the sheets of dough were cooked differently. So, it's a bit of a stretch to say that the ancient Romans invented lasagna. However,
A form of gnocchi was eaten in Roman times, though the dumplings were made from semolina dough rather than potatoes. Potatoes, of course, would not arrive in Europe until the 16th century, as they originated from South America. And it's the same story for tomatoes.
So, there was certainly no tomato pasta in ancient Rome, and most likely not much pasta at all. Or at least, nothing that resembled the modern-day food. Between ancient Rome and the 13th century, the history of pasta becomes somewhat murky and unclear. like starchy cooking water. As we've mentioned before, we know that by the 13th century, pasta was a familiar food in Italy. But exactly how and when it developed is a bit of a mystery. Many experts believe that true pasta
Pasta as we know it today, which is boiled or baked, was first introduced in the Middle Ages. Most likely, it was a result of extensive trading in the Mediterranean and Arab influences. The island of Sicily in the south of Italy was under Islamic rule for a couple of hundred years, from the 9th to the 11th centuries. And by the 12th century, a special kind of food was being produced in Sicily and then exported. Long strings of dough made from semolina were dried, then boiled.
They were known as yttria. The origins of this food date back even earlier. A boiled dough called yttrium was made in Palestine centuries before. From this, we can make the following conclusion. Yttria, an early version of spaghetti, was first produced by people in Sicily. They took inspiration from the Arabs who had conquered their land and introduced their own cuisine. Other forms of Italian pasta that we know today also have an Arab influence. For example,
The twirly shape we call fusilli most likely originates from the Sicilian pasta, buziate. And this name derives from an Arabic word for a pasta-making tool. So, during the Middle Ages, Sicilians began to experiment with dried pasta production. The food steadily grew in popularity and spread across Italy and beyond. We're using the name Italy to keep things simple, but keep in mind that Italy, just like potatoes and tomatoes, had yet to exist in Europe.
It didn't become a unified country until much later, the 19th century to be precise. Before then, Italy was a jumble of smaller states. This also had an effect on culinary history. Different regions came up with their own distinct cuisines. including different forms of pasta. And even when it was basically the same as the pasta in another region, people would often use different names. That explains the dizzying list of names for pasta shapes. Although there are only about 300 shapes of pasta,
there are at least 1,300 names. For instance, the pastichels most commonly known as Cavatelli have more than 20 alternative names depending on the region. One name translates as priest's ears. Here, We could easily digress and go into all the weird and wonderful pastor names. For example, the chunky tubes called Puckery are slaps in the dialect of Naples, perhaps because of the slapping sound the pastor makes when eaten. The name of the stuffed pastor Cappelletti
means little hats, which they do indeed resemble. And then there are the twisted tubes known as strozzapreti, which translates as priest stranglers. This pasta shape has an intriguing history of its own. But for now, let's stick to the main story, and get back to the 13th century, a turning point in pasta history. This is the period when food historians can breathe a sigh of relief as we finally have some certainty about what kinds of pasta Italians were eating. From this point,
There are increasing references to pasta dishes such as ravioli, gnocchi, and macaroni. For example, the possessions of a soldier are listed in a will from 1279, which refers to a basketful of macaroni. The soldier lived in Genoa. in the north of Italy, which shows how pasta had spread up from the south. And it's no wonder that it traveled fast, given how practical it was. Dried pasta kept well, which made it easy to transport. It soon became popular for sailors on long sea voyages.
In the 13th and 14th centuries, various poems and tales in Italian literature refer to pasta. Most notable, perhaps, is the classic collection of short stories known as The Decameron, written by Giovanni Boccaccio. It contains a fantastical, mouth-watering description of a mountain made of grated Parmesan cheese. The people who live at the top do nothing but make pasta, macaroni, and ravioli, which are then rolled down the mountain for the hungry people waiting below.
And it wasn't just writers who were inspired by pastors' possibilities. By the Renaissance, cooks were becoming increasingly inventive. Bartolomeo Scappi, who cooked for the Pope, showed off his talent with elaborate pasta dishes. For the third course of a banquet, He once served up boiled chicken with ravioli. These days, ravioli usually has a fairly simple filling. Ricotta cheese and spinach, for instance. But as a 16th century papal chef, Scappi went all out.
His ravioli were filled with a paste consisting of pork, cow udders, Parmesan cheese, herbs, spices, raisins, and sugar. Of all those ingredients, perhaps sugar is the one that sounds the strangest. But before the introduction of tomatoes and tomato sauce, it was common for Italian pasta to be sweet. Many other recipes of the time are a mixture of sweet, savory, and sometimes spicy, too. One of the reasons chefs like Scappi.
created such extravagant dishes was because of the papal sumptuary laws of the time. Sumptuary laws were designed to regulate consumption, particularly among the upper classes. So, as aristocratic banquets became increasingly over the top, a law was introduced.
No more than 40 guests could attend, and no more than three courses could be served. One way to get around this was to create enormous pasta pies, which were filled with just about everything. For example, one pie contained ravioli, macaroni, sausages, chicken, ham, eggs, and truffles. These ingredients were separated by layers of pastry and dates and almonds. This trend for sumptuous pasta pies continued beyond the Renaissance.
A French monk who traveled to Sicily in the early 18th century provides an intriguing description of a macaroni pie. He writes, It is not a dish for everybody. The macaroni has been cooked in a broth of almond milk, sugared and perfumed with ambergris. the finest powdered cinnamon, genuine Corinth currants, pistachios from Levant, lemon peels, the most delicate little sausages, and garnished with Genovese pasta. It was a dish fit for a cardinal. I thought the macaroni were excellent.
While pasta was popular among the aristocracy, it was eaten by the working classes too. Around the 16th century, the increasing popularity of pasta and the growth of production led to the creation of pasta makers' guilds. The pasta makers, who were known as the vermicelli, wanted to protect their business. They also wanted to establish rules and standards for how pasta should be made.
It wasn't long before the pasta makers were squabbling with bakers, insisting that they should be the only ones to make pasta. As a result of this ongoing conflict, the Pope got involved and introduced new laws. According to one, anyone who made pasta illegally could be punished by a fine and a whipping. And in 1641, a papal decree stated that there had to be a minimum distance of 25 yards between pasta shops. It seemed there was no limit to the Italian appetite for pasta.
There were many reasons for its increasing popularity. It was a practical food, which could be stored for a long time without spoiling. It was filling and could be cooked and seasoned in a delicious variety of ways. And it was also becoming more accessible. thanks to industrial production. The mechanical pasta press was invented in the 17th century. This made it so cheap and easy to make pasta that even the poorest people could afford it. A traveler in Naples made the following observation.
When a beggar has got four or five coins and it's enough to buy some macaroni, he ceases to care about tomorrow and stops working. Rich and poor alike ate their pasta with gusto. And, more often than not, without cutlery. Here's a description of King Ferdinand IV of Naples tucking into a plate of macaroni. He picked them up with his fingers, twisting and pulling them, and voraciously stuffed them in his mouth, spurning the use of a knife, fork, or spoon.
Images of working-class people in Naples show them eating spaghetti with their hands, even as recently as the 20th century. It wasn't until the introduction of tomato sauce that forks became a necessity for eating pasta. And while the tomato arrived in Italy in the 16th century, it took a while for it to become a common cooking ingredient. For a long time, the tomato was viewed with suspicion. It was seen as a strange foreign fruit, an interesting novelty at best, and potentially poisonous.
at worst. But over the centuries, it gradually became part of people's diets. That quintessential Italian dish – spaghetti with tomato sauce – first appeared in a recipe from 1844. The increasing popularity of tomatoes may explain a fundamental shift in pasta recipes from the 19th century onwards. Sweet pasta became a thing of the past. From this point on, pasta was a savory dish, often containing vegetables, which helped to make it a more nutritionally balanced meal.
Another significant change in this period was brought about by industrialization. Technological advances in the mid-19th century helped to make pasta a truly national and then international food. In the past, Pasta-making had often involved the laborious process of kneading the dough by foot. But with the invention of new, steam-powered machines, pasta could be produced quickly, easily, and on a massive scale. In this new era of mass production,
pasta began to spread across the world. Factories in Italy, particularly in Naples and other parts of the South, produced vast quantities of pasta, which was then exported across Europe and beyond. And when Italians left Italy, Hoping to build a new life in the US, Canada, or South America, they brought their recipes with them. Italian immigration and the opening of Italian restaurants across the world is one of the reasons why pasta went global in the 20th century.
It also led to the creation of new, non-Italian pasta dishes, such as spaghetti with meatballs and pasta primavera. But while pasta was becoming increasingly popular abroad, back in Italy, it was under threat. In the 1930s, Italy was ruled by the fascist government of Benito Mussolini. Mussolini has been remembered for many reasons. His actions in the Second World War, his complicated relationship with Adolf Hitler, and his execution.
But less widely known is the story of Mussolini's war on pasta. At the time, the Italian economy was struggling, and importing flour, an essential ingredient for making pasta, was becoming prohibitively expensive. So, said Mussolini. Rather than importing flour from abroad, Italians should focus on homegrown food. Rice, for example, which was widely cultivated in northern Italy. A propaganda campaign launched by the fascist party declared that rice was good, pasta bad.
Rice was healthy and patriotic, perfect for creating a dynamic new generation of Italians energized by protein. Pasta, on the other hand, was unhealthy and old-fashioned. At least, that's according to the Futurist Cookbook. The author of this book was Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, the founder of the social and artistic movement known as Futurism. Marinetti had also co-authored The Fascist Manifesto.
went together. One of the futurist principles, according to Marinetti, was the abolition of pasta. He wrote, Pasta, however agreeable to the palate, is a passiest food because it makes people heavy, brutish. deludes them into thinking it is nutritious, and makes them skeptical, slow, pessimistic. For Marinetti, pasta belonged to the past. He believed that the new Italian cuisine should be innovative, making use of all the senses. For example,
Here's a recipe from the Futurist Cookbook. The diner is served from the right, with a plate containing some black olives, fennel hearts, and kumquats. From the left, he is served with a rectangle made of sandpaper, silk, and velvet. The foods must be carried directly to the mouth with the right hand, while the left hand lightly and repeatedly strokes the tactile rectangle. In the meantime, the waiters spray the napes of the diner's necks with a perfume of carnation, while from the kitchen
comes contemporaneously a violent sound of an airplane motor and some music by Buck. Unsurprisingly, the average Italian was not convinced by futurist cooking. And as for rice, it just wasn't as tasty as pasta. In response to the anti-pasta manifesto, the mayor of Naples declared, The angels in heaven eat nothing but vermicelli al pomodoro, tomato pasta. In Naples in particular, and other cities in the south, where there was a strong tradition of pasta,
people responded angrily to Mussolini and Marinetti. Across Italy, protests and labor strikes were organized, while eating pasta became a symbol of anti-fascist resistance. Despite Mussolini's best efforts, a complete ban never materialized. The Italian love of pasta prevailed. This story shows how by the 20th century, pasta had become so much more than food. For people in Italy, it was also part of their culture and identity.
To understand just how much Italians care about their pasta, let's look at the controversy surrounding carbonara. This pasta dish is a Roman specialty. Usually made with spaghetti, carbonara also contains guanciale or pancetta, which are both kinds of pork. as well as a pecorino cheese, eggs, and black pepper. But every now and then, a different version of carbonara appears, one containing a different kind of meat or the addition of vegetables or cream, which is sacrilege, according to some.
Many Italians have strong opinions about carbonara. An authentic dish, they insist, can only be made with guanciale, and it certainly doesn't contain cream. It's true that, in general, Italians are very proud of their food. They have well-defined ideas about what a dish is or isn't and how it should be made. But when it comes to carbonara, debates about authenticity become particularly heated. Ironically, this may be because the dish is not as old or as Italian.
as some would like to believe. While many people in Rome talk about carbonara as though it's been around for centuries – an ancient, traditional dish that must be respected – in fact, it's relatively modern. The name carbonara didn't appear in print until 1950,
In an Italian newspaper article, it's described as a Roman dish popular with American soldiers. And in an Italian film made a year later, a waitress is asked if she knows how to make carbonara. But before these examples, there's no evidence of the name being used.
A book about Roman cuisine published in 1930 makes no mention of carbonara. So, when exactly was it invented? Most experts agree that the dish first made an appearance towards the end of the Second World War, when Rome had been liberated.
At the time, there were lots of American soldiers in the city, and a lot of bacon, thanks to their daily rations. This might explain the origins of the dish – people making use of the available ingredients to create something a bit different. It also raises the possibility that it was an American who first made carbonara, or at least came up with the idea. For some Romans who are so proud of their cuisine, this is hard to accept. When an Italian food expert published an article in 2023,
claiming that carbonara was invented by Americans, there was an uproar. However, even if carbonara does have American influences, there seems to be little doubt that it originated in Rome. And as such, the dish is very much part of Italian food history. The story of Carbonara shows us how important pasta has become. It's something that many Italians feel strongly about. Something tied to their identity and some of their earliest memories. People will reminisce fondly.
about the spaghetti with clams they once ate by the sea, or the lasagna their mother used to make. For instance, there's an anecdote from the chef Massimo Bottura. He's the founder of a world-famous Michelin-starred restaurant in Modena in northern Italy. Bottura has talked about how his love of food started at an early age. He would hide under the kitchen table while his grandmother made the stuffed pasta known as tortellini and steel pieces that fell on the floor.
nostalgic memories associated with food, and maybe pasta in particular. It's a dish that we often connect with home or family, and as something warm, filling, and delicious. It's perhaps the ultimate comfort food. So, the next time you're about to dig into a plate of spaghetti, take a moment to truly appreciate it. And as you twirl the strands around your fork, reflect on the long and fascinating history of pasta. The Italian creation. that conquered the world.