How much do you know about spaghetti?
When you think of a classic Italian menu, Spaghetti is probably one of the first things that pops into your mind. A common dish in American and Italian households alike, this week we are going to explore some fun facts about spaghetti!
A Classic Dish
Spaghetti is made of semolina or flour and water. Italian dried spaghetti is made from durum wheat semolina, however; outside of Italy, it can be made a variety of different ways. Thin spaghetti in tomato sauce dates back to 19th century Naples. Classically, the sauce was served with fatty meats like ham, sausage, and bacon; meatballs were not served with the dish commonly until World War II in America of all places.
April Fools!
A fun origin fact is that on April 1, 1957, BBC made a spoof broadcast convincing everyone that spaghetti grew on trees. At that time spaghetti was considered an exotic delicacy and BBC played on that fact by going into much (facetious) detail about how frost could impair the flavor of spaghetti and that spaghetti strings always grow to the same length. Bonus fact about this television presentation: some people believe it was the first time the television was used to stage an April Fools joke.
There is a National Spaghetti Day
Here in America, we have a whole day to recognize spaghetti: January 4th is known as National Spaghetti Day, in case you didn’t know it! Another way Americans have made spaghetti their own is the way they eat it. It is not common in Italy to use a spoon and a fork to eat spaghetti, as is common in America, instead they simply twirl with a fork against the dish.
A Swimming Pool Filled with Pasta
The world record for the largest bowl of spaghetti ever was set in March 2009 and then beaten in March 2010. A restaurant in Los Angeles successfully filled a swimming pool with more than 13,780 pounds of pasta!
Americans Eat A Lot of Spaghetti
In the year 2000, over 1.3 million pounds of spaghetti were sold in American grocery stores. If you are curious about a visual of what that might look like, if those packages were lined up, they could circle the earth nine times.
The Best Italian Cuisine from Basta Pasta
For over 12 years, Basta Pasta has been providing people from Maryland with fresh, delicious Italian special cooked with the highest quality ingredients. Enjoy the health benefits of Italian food and make a reservation at our Timonium location online or call at 410-308-0838. To make a reservation at our location in Fallston contact us online or call 410-692-5200. To find out more about out menu and our business, please follow us on Facebook and Twitter.