Food - Drink
The Ancient And Debated Origin Of Spaghetti
By CHRIS SANDS
It’s only natural to assume Italy as the true origin of spaghetti, but many believe that spaghetti actually comes from China. Noodles (proposed as the likely progenitors of pasta, spaghetti specifically) were brought back to Italy by Marco Polo in the 13th century, before referring to several Chinese dishes that resemble pasta in his notes.
With their 4,000-year-old enjoyment of noodles and inventions like paper, the printing press, tea, and liquor, it’s easy to support the theory that China originated spaghetti. However, the earliest evidence of pasta is actually found in 1,000 to 800 B.C.E Greece with their early invention of lasagna, referred to as laganon.
Marco Polo wasn’t the only traveler during the Middle Ages, and after Ancient Romans conquered the Greeks in 146 B.C.E., the development of spaghetti was handed to Abu Abdullah Mohammed al Edrisi, an acknowledged expert in Mediterranean geography. He mapped Sicily around 1139, writing a book known as "The Book of Roger."
"The Book of Roger" is known majorly for its scientific observations and cultural history, including spaghetti's origins, traced to the small Sicilian town of Trabia, whose residents were not only consuming the pasta variant as of the year 1154, but were also selling it far and wide. This means that, yes, spaghetti's roots are likely found in Italy.