L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 20 L'Italo-Americano N o t h i n g i s m o r e c l a s s i c Italian than a p l a t e o f s p a g h e t t i with tomato sauce sprin- kled with parmesan cheese. I t i s t h e p r e m i e r I t a l i a n dish, especially in the eyes o f f o r e i g n e r s w h o d o n ' t k n o w m a n y o t h e r I t a l i a n recipes. In general, pasta is a culi- nary symbol par excellence of Italian identity. Eating p a s t a i s t h e n u m b e r o n e Italian experience that any- body can carry out today in the world with the availabil- i t y o f t h e r i g h t , g e n u i n e ingredients. C o o k i n g I t a l i a n s t a r t s with ingredients but, above all, it relies on recipes. There are more than 350 types of pasta that can be f r e s h o r d r i e d , r o l l e d o r filled. Each shape is suitable for more than one recipe. Individual cities and rural areas contribute their classic pasta dishes. "Each shape, each preparation has its his- t o r y , " w r i t e s M a s s i m o M o n t a n a r i i n A S h o r t H i s t o r y o f S p a g h e t t i w i t h T o m a t o S a u c e , a book published by Europa Editions that inquires into pasta's origins. Pasta dishes entered the I t a l i a n k i t c h e n s i n t h e M i d d l e A g e s . D u r i n g t h e R e n a i s s a n c e , I t a l y s a w a boom in the consumption of filled pasta instead. Making t o r t e l l i , t o r t e l l i n i a n d agnolotti combined the tra- dition of Ancient Romans' lagana- a dish similar to our modern lasagna but cut into smaller pieces- with the skill of making savory pastries, or torte, learned in Medieval times. The Italian pasta market remains the most concen- trated market in the world. Italy is the leading dry pasta p r o d u c i n g c o u n t r y , a n d Italians have the highest per capita consumption, with 23.5 kilograms per year, fol- lowed by Tunisia, 17 kilo- grams, and Venezuela, 12 kilograms. But where and when did the pasta industry begin? It started in Sicily under Arab rule. The Arabs occu- pied Sicily in the 9th centu- ry. The Sicilians remained under Islamic domination for more than two hundred years until the Norman con- quest of the 11th century. Arab culture deeply pene- trated Sicily and remained alive on the island even dur- ing the Norman occupation. "It can be no coincidence, therefore, that precisely in Sicily, in the middle of the 12th century, an extraordi- nary document proves the existence of a dried pasta industry, the first in histo- ry," explains Montanari, a P r o f e s s o r o f M e d i e v a l H i s t o r y a n d H i s t o r y o f Nutrition at the University of Bologna. "It was a true industry that controlled all phases of the productive cycle: from the harvesting and milling of the wheat to the fabrica- tion and marketing of the pasta," he says. "The account came down to us from Muhammad al- I d r i s i , a N o r t h A f r i c a n n o b l e m a n , t r a v e l e r , a n d geographer, who became an advisor to the Norman King R o g e r I I , " M o n t a n a r i o b s e r v e s . M r . a l - I d r i s i revealed the existence of an industry pasta in his Arabic b o o k T a b u l a R o g e r i a n a , which focused on the terri- t o r i e s a l l a r o u n d t h e Mediterranean Sea. When writing about Trabia, a town only 19 miles southeast of P a l e r m o , a l - I d r i s i n o t e d the presence of "perennial w a t e r s t h a t m o v e s e v e r a l mills" and of farms where "a lot of pasta" was produced. "The cultural and political c o n t e x t o f t h e t i m e w a s extraordinarily open-mind- ed and featured collabora- t i o n a m o n g C h r i s t i a n s , J e w s , a n d M u s l i m s , " remarks Montanari. O u r p a s t a c u l t u r e i s autonomous. The celebrated Italian tradition has nothing t o d o w i t h t h e h i s t o r y o f C h i n a ' s n o o d l e s t h a t f o l - lowed its routes. However, other "roots" are involved in s o m e f o r m . O u r s t a r t i n g point has been affected by Middle Eastern cultures. "The search for origins t a k e s u s t o t h e F e r t i l e C r e s c e n t , t h e M i d d l e Eastern regions to the east o f t h e M e d i t e r r a n e a n , " explains Montanari. "There, 10-12 thousand years ago, the agricultural revolution began, and with it, the cul- MARIELLA RADAELLI ture of wheat and its deriva- t i v e s — f i r s t a m o n g t h e m , b r e a d , w h i c h b e c a m e t h e symbol of that revolution." Pasta originated as a vari- ation on unleavened bread, o c c a s i o n a l l y d r i e d t o enhance conservation. "That thin dough, flattened with a r o l l i n g p i n o r w o r k e d b y hand into elongated or other shapes, was called lakhsha b y S a s a n i a n e r a P e r s i a n s ( 3 r d - 7 t h c e n t u r i e s ) , " e x p l a i n s M o n t a n a r i . "Another term, rishta, indi- cated a type of pasta cut in strips or strings (like tagli- atelle or spaghetti) before being dried. The term seems quite ancient; the Iranian language may have derived it from a risnatu, of which there has remained a trace in a cuneiform tablet from almost 4000 years ago," he says. Both the Greeks and the Romans took up the Middle E a s t p r a c t i c e o f r o l l i n g dough. The Romans used t h e L a t i n w o r d lagana, which was, as we w r o t e e a r l i e r , a l s o a dish similar to our lasagna. T h e y f r i e d i t o r b a k e d i t w i t h o u t f i r s t b o i l i n g t h e noodles in water. W h e n t h e A r a b s c o n - quered Persia at the begin- ning of the 7th century, they s o o n i n c o r p o r a t e d t h e incredible culture of ancient Iran into the Arab world, assimilating its traditions. "Possibly, Jewish mer- chants introduced the pro- cedures for preparing dried p a s t a t o t h e w e s t e r n Mediterranean countries," explains Montanari. "Pietro I s p a n o , a m e d i c a l d o c t o r who became pope in 1276, referred to dried pasta as ' J e w i s h f o o d ' ( c i b u s Iudaeorum)." "But it was the Arabs who spread the culinary custom of dried pasta throughout the regions they occupied and governed: Sicily, North A f r i c a , a n d A n d a l u s i a , " insists Montanari. "Thanks to their mediation, the new practice was superimposed o n t h e G r e e k a n d R o m a n tradition of fresh pasta." S o , 1 2 t h c e n t u r y S i c i l y paved the way for the devel- opment of the pasta indus- try. Sicily invented and rev- olutionized pasta. I n t h e 1 3 t h c e n t u r y , Sardinia became Sicily's first competitor in producing and e x p o r t i n g p a s t a . A l s o , Italian maritime cities such as Genoa, Pisa, and Venice established pasta factories Pasta is a classic Italian dish today, but it traveled across the Mediterranean before reaching our shores (Minoandriani/Dreamstime) Pasta, a gift from the Mediterranean melting pot Continued to page 22 LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE

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