Spaghetti

For other uses, see Spaghetti (disambiguation).

Spaghetti (Italian: [spaˈɡetti]) is a long, thin, solid, cylindrical pasta.^[1] It is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine. Like other pasta, spaghetti is made of milled wheat (sometimes enriched with vitamins and minerals) and water. Italian spaghetti is typically made from durum wheat semolina.^[2] The pasta is usually white because refined flour is used, but whole wheat flour may be added.^[3] Spaghettoni is a thicker form of spaghetti, while spaghettini is a thinner form. Capellini is a very thin spaghetti, while vermicelli refers to intermediate thicknesses.

Spaghetti

Spaghettoni hung to dry
Type	Pasta
Main ingredients	Semolina or flour, water
Cookbook: Spaghetti   Media: Spaghetti

Originally, spaghetti was notably long, but shorter lengths gained in popularity during the latter half of the 20th century and now it is most commonly available in 25–30 cm (10–12 in) lengths. A variety of pasta dishes are based on it and it is frequently served with tomato sauce, meat or vegetables.

History

See also: Pasta § History

Early

14th century depiction of pasta making

Spaghetti has its origin in an ancient, thin, and generally unleavened bread from the Middle East. This was known under various names at different times, including Asian Bread in some texts of antiquity, and lakhsha in the Persian Sasanian Empire. The bread was flattened, sometimes by hand and at other times with a rolling pin, and was occasionally dried for preservation. Under the Sasanian Empire, it took on the name rishta when cut into strips or strings before drying, the term possibly deriving from the Iranian word risnatu, for which records of use exist as far back as the 2nd millennium BC.^[4]

Coinciding with this emerging tradition of drying pasta in Persia, pasta was eaten throughout antiquity in Roman and Greek societies after arriving from the Middle East.^[4][5] There too, pasta was sometimes dried, most frequently the long, stretched doughs.^[6] In the 7th century, Arabs conquered Persia, and thereafter spread the dried pasta custom throughout the lands they occupied, which included Sicily from the 9th century. There, the dried pasta practice became associated with the European traditions of making fresh pasta, and the name itriyya entered the language, meaning "long-form dried pasta".^[7]

Arrival in the Italian peninsula

By the middle of the 12th century, records exist of several farms in Sicily producing itriyya at scale for local and export markets.^[8] Over the following centuries, this pasta appeared in Italian cookbooks, albeit infrequently.^[9] A precise description of the manufacture of "Sicilian macaroni" is given by Martino da Como in the later 15th century: a ball of dough, stretched thin, cut with a wire as "thin as spagho (string)", dried under the sun.^[10] The duration of this drying process varied with weather and humidity, but twelve days in the summer was typical.^[11] In another recipe for a Genoese pasta, Martino employs spagho for the first time in a culinary context when he says pasta ought to be cut "as thin as a spagho".^[10] Severals tools were employed for this cutting process, including chitarra in areas of southern Italy, which consisted of a wooden frame strung with wires, lowered onto the dough.^[12]

Pasta at this time was cooked for much longer than it is today; Martino recommends his Sicilian macaroni boil in water for two hours to achieve a desired, very soft texture. Contemporary ideas of how this pasta should be served was based on the ideas of physicians, who followed Hippocrates and Galen's principle of contraria contrariis curantur ('opposites cure opposites'). For a very soft pasta, this meant expensive accompaniments of dried spices and pepper.^[13] Cheese, particularly the drier, aged varieties, was another common pairing for the same reason, the most popular for the task by the mid-15th century being pecorino and parmigiano.^[14] The slippery texture and hot serving temperature of pasta facilitated the introduction of the fork to Italy, replacing earlier practices of eating pasta and other foods by hand, and by the 14th century, the first descriptions of spaghetti being twirled with a fork were emerging.^[15]

Later

19th century photograph of Neapolitans eating spaghetti in the street

In the 17th century, the region associated most with pasta moved from Sicily to Naples. Around 1630, Naples under Spanish rule was experiencing famines with a reduced supply of meat and vegetables due to poor governance. As technology permitting industrial mixing and extrusion dramatically reduced prices of output, pasta became a staple food, no longer the domain of the elite.^[16][17] It is in this century that short cooktimes and firmer pasta textures emerged, although at first only for fresh pasta; it took until the mid-19th century in Naples for records of cooks taking a short cooktime and firm texture for granted.^[18]

Around this time, pairing tomato sauces with pastas was becoming established among the Naples populace, the first records of the combination having appeared at the end of the previous century.^[19] Grated cheese remained an essential element in preparations, although unlike in modern servings, sauces were served over grated cheese. It was not until the 20th century that the inverse became established.^[20]

By the 1920s food writer Waverley Root could witness scenes in Naples of "home-made macaroni hung out to dry like the family washing—at the mercy of dust, dirt, insects and the depredations of passing pigeons, children and dogs".^[21] By 1955, annual consumption of spaghetti in Italy doubled from 14 kilograms (31 lb) per person before World War II to 28 kilograms (62 pounds).^[22] In that year, Italy produced almost 1.5 million tons of spaghetti, of which approximately 5% was exported.^[22]

Marco Polo story

Through the end of the 13th century, the Venetian merchant and adventurer Marco Polo travelled into Asia, detailing his expedition in The Travels of Marco Polo. Two centuries later, the geographer Giovanni Battista Ramusio read Polo's accounts in preparation for a new edition. In one of his stories, Polo told of the preparations made by the people of Sumatra with sago flour, likening them to the pastas and lasagnas he was familiar with in Italy, and described how he brought back samples to Venice. Misunderstanding this, in his 1559 publication Ramusio conveyed that Marco Polo had discovered pasta in China and brought it to Italy.^[23]

This legend persisted, and was developed further in a 1929 article in the American industry newsletter the Macaroni Journal, where the author credited the invention of spaghetti to a member of Polo's crew named Spaghetti. In the story, Spaghetti made landfall in China in search of water. On shore, he encountered a farm woman stirring a batter which hardened in the hot, dry climate. Realising this would store well on long voyages, Spaghetti returned to the boat with some batter and kneaded it, formed it into long strips, and cooked it in the salty sea water.^[24][25]

Production

Pasta sheeter (c. 1935)

Spaghetti is made from grain ground into a flour and water.^[26] Whole-wheat and multigrain spaghetti are also sold.^[2] Most spaghetti is produced in factories using auger extruders. As the ingredients are mixed and kneaded, attention is paid to prevent air bubbles and ensure a homogenous mix. The forming dies are water cooled to prevent overheating and spoiling the pasta. While drying the spaghetti, care is taken to prevent strands sticking together and to leave sufficient moisture to avoid a product that is too brittle. Packaging for protection and display has moved from paper wrapping to plastic bags and boxes.^[27]

• 
  A hydraulic press with an automatic spreader by the Consolidated Macaroni Machine Corporation, Brooklyn, New York. This machine was the first to spread long cut alimentary paste products onto a drying stick.
• 
  An industrial dryer for spaghetti or other long goods pasta products, also by the Consolidated Macaroni Machine Corporation
• 
  An artistic arrangement of spaghetti
• 
  Spaghetti measured with a "spaghetti measure"The measure can portion out 1, 2, 3 or 4 servings based on the diameter of the circle.

Variations

In Naples, spaghetti is thinner than it is in the United States.^[28] Spaghettoni is a thicker spaghetti and spaghettini is a thinner spaghetti, although it is thicker than the pasta of Naples.^[29]

Preparation

Dry industrial spaghetti

Fresh or dry spaghetti is cooked in a large pot of salted, boiling water and then drained in a colander (Italian: scolapasta). Utensils used in spaghetti preparation include the spaghetti scoop and spaghetti tongs.

In Italy, spaghetti is generally cooked al dente (lit. 'to the tooth'), fully cooked but still firm to the bite. It may also be cooked to a softer consistency. Spaghettoni takes more time to cook than regular spaghetti, and spaghettini less time.

In southern Italy, spaghetti is sometimes placed in a dishcloth and broken into pieces to be served with vegetables, beans or in a broth. This originated at a time when the region was very poor, and broken pieces of spaghetti were sold at discount to prevent waste. Offcuts are still sold in parts of Italy, alone and as part of pasta mista (an assortment of pasta shapes), and some factories donate their broken pieces to hospitals and nursing homes.^[30]

• 
  Spaghetti being placed in boiling water
• 
  Draining the water
• 
  A spaghetti scoop
• 
  Spaghetti tongs

Serving

Main article: List of pasta dishes

Italian cuisine

Spaghetti alla carbonara

An emblem of Italian cuisine, spaghetti is frequently served with tomato sauce, which may contain various herbs (especially oregano and basil), olive oil, meat or vegetables. Other spaghetti preparations include amatriciana or carbonara. Grated hard cheeses, such as pecorino romano, Parmesan, and Grana Padano, are often sprinkled on top.

• Spaghetti dishes
• 
  Spaghetti alle vongole
• 
  Spaghetti aglio e olio
• 
  Spaghetti alla puttanesca
• 
  Spaghetti alla Nerano

International cuisine

Spaghetti bolognese, common outside of Italy, but not customary inside

In the Philippines, a popular variant is the Filipino spaghetti, which is distinctively sweet with the tomato sauce sweetened with banana ketchup or sugar. It typically uses a large amount of giniling (ground meat), sliced hot dogs, and cheese. The dish dates back to the period between the 1940s to the 1960s. During the American Commonwealth Period, a shortage of tomato supplies in World War II forced the development of the banana ketchup.^[31][32][33] Spaghetti was introduced by the Americans and was tweaked to suit the local Filipino predilection for sweet dishes.^[34]

Nutrition

Spaghetti (enriched, dry)

Nutritional value per 70 g (2+1⁄2 oz)
Energy	460 kJ (110 kcal)
Carbohydrates	22g
Sugars	0g
Dietary fiber	1g
Fat	0.5g
Saturated	0g
Trans	0g
Protein	4g
Vitamins and minerals Vitamins Quantity %DV† Vitamin A equiv. 0% 0 μg Vitamin C 0% 0 mg Minerals Quantity %DV† Calcium 0% 0 mg Iron 22% 4 mg Sodium 0% 0 mg
Source: USDA[35]
†Percentages estimated using US recommendations for adults.[36]

Pasta provides carbohydrates, along with some protein, iron, dietary fiber, potassium, and B vitamins.^[37] Pasta prepared with whole wheat grain provides more dietary fiber^[37] than that prepared with degermed flour.

In popular culture

A sequence in the 1955 animated movie Lady and the Tramp features the title characters sharing a plate of spaghetti, culminating in an accidental kiss as they meet, eating the same strand of spaghetti. It is considered an iconic scene in American film history.^[38] The BBC television program Panorama featured a hoax program about the spaghetti harvest in Switzerland on April Fools' Day in 1957.^[39]

Alberto Sordi in the movie An American in Rome

Poorly structured computer source code is often described as spaghetti code.^[40] A similar and more physical concept, "cable spaghetti", applies to poor cable management. In women's clothing, very thin straps supporting a dress or topwear are called "spaghetti straps".^[41] The term spaghetti Western refers to Western films made in Europe which were produced and directed by Italians.^[42]

See also

• Italy portal
• Food portal

• List of pasta