A Brief History of Pasta

Pasta is Italy’s national dish and if there is one thing that every Italian menu around the world cannot lack – be it in Italy or in the United States, in France or in Hong Kong – is pasta al pomodoro. But what’s the story behind this dish everyone thinks they know so well? And what about pasta alla carbonara o amatriciana, or ragù alla bolognese? A Brief History of Pasta will answer every burning question you may have on the history of your favorite dishes, complete with different recipes (the oldest, themost common, the most intriguing variations...) and a treasure-trove of anecdotes about how these dishes evolved, in Italy and in the rest of the world. Because there is only one thing that could not be left home, when an Italian decided to embark on an adventure abroad: a notebook full of pasta recipes.

Luca Cesari is a food historian. He writes for various magazine, Il Sole 24 Ore among them.