“Italian food always reminds me of a cozy warm cottage with a good mountain view and great food enjoyed with close friends and family.“
– Anonymous
Italian cuisine is a minimalistic approach towards food with great attention to the quality of ingredients rather than their quantity. It is a Mediterranean cuisine that can be traced back to 4th century BC.
One of the staples of this cuisine is pasta that is is made out of semolina or wheat flour, eggs, and water. The dough is allowed to rise and made into various different shapes. It is divided into two categories: pasta fresca (freshly made pasta) and pasta secca (dried, store-bought pasta).
Both, the fresh and dried pasta can be found in about 310 different shapes and is often unique to a particular region in the country. Chefs prefer using different shapes of pasta with different sauces, according to how well the pasta can hold the sauce.
We have two varieties of pasta being served in the dining courts this week: ‘Cavatappi pasta’ and ‘Rotini pasta’
Cavatappi pasta was born in the 1970s in Barilla, Parma when the dough was mistakenly shaped in a spiral instead of a straight line. Due to its ridged spiral shape, this pasta holds both simple and sophisticated sauces well. It can also be used for pasta
salads.
Rotini pasta is a short, extruded, twisted pasta. Originally known as fusilli, it was first made in Southern Italy. Its shape allows it to hold most sauces very well and because of its bite-size being small, it is commonly used in pasta salads too.
It is known that in 1789, Thomas Jefferson brought the first macaroni maker to America after visiting Europe as and ambassador to France. The first pasta factory was build on Brooklyn waterfronts in 1848 by French immigrant Antoine Zerega.
Today, pasta is made in different shapes and sizes. Wheat and gluten-free varieties are the newest addition to the markets. With pasta being so readily available in stores, making it at home has now reduced. Nonetheless, it is an easy favorite of many people around the globe.
The dining courts will be serving two pasta varieties this week, get yours today at Ford and Windsor dining courts!
To know more about the locations at which the it will be served, visit this website or download the Purdue Dining app!
Here’s where we got our info from:
History – National Pasta Association (NPA). (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://ilovepasta.org/history/
Pasta. (2020, September 19). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasta
Rizzo’s, L. (2015, January 23). Why Does Pasta Come in So Many Different Shapes and Sizes? Retrieved October 27, 2020, from http://lilrizzos.blogspot.com/2015/01/why-does-pasta-come-in-so-many.html
Rotini. (2018, December 13). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://pastafits.org/pasta-shapes/rotini/
Purdue Dining & Culinary 