NATIONAL PASTA DAY – October 17

October is National Pasta Month and October 17 annually celebrates National Pasta Day.

Pasta lovers celebrate!

Pasta is a type of noodle of traditional Italian cuisine, with the first reference dating to 1154 in Sicily and first attested in English in 1874.  Typically, it is made from unleavened dough of durum wheat flour that is mixed with water or eggs and formed into sheets or various shapes. It is then cooked and served in a variety of dishes.

Pasta is divided into two categories: dried or fresh.

Fresh pasta was originally produced by hand but, today, many varieties of fresh pasta are commercially produced by large scale machines and the products are widely available in supermarkets.

• Dried and fresh pasta come in a number of shapes and varieties.
• There are 310 specific forms known variably by over 1300 names having been recently documented.
• In Italy, names of specific pasta shapes or types vary with locale.
• Example:  Cavatelli is known by 28 different names depending on the region and town.

Whatever name you use, it’s delicious.