Spaghetti
This wonderful form of pasta, long and thin, is used to prepare many tasty dishes. While the spaghetti noodles can be served with delicious meat or cheese sauces, many think of the spaghetti dish prepared in the traditional Italian manner, topped with a tomato sauce prepared with fine herbs, vegetables and meat. Meatballs, too, are often served with spaghetti, though this is not a traditional Italian recipe.
Popular theory once suggested that it was Marco Polo who had introduced spaghetti to the European community, having brought it from his travels in China back in the 13th century. Recent evidence, however, shows that while Marco Polo did, in fact, encounter a form of spaghetti which was produced in Asia, the art of pasta making was alive and well in Europe prior to his discovery.
In 1154, Sicily's monarch, King Roger II, commissioned Abu Abdullah Mohammed al Edrisi to research Sicily and other regions. The resulting work encompassed detailed accounts of not only the geography, but the local customs and activities that permeated the ways of life at the time. Having endured the ages, the resulting chronicle referred to as The Book of Roger remains in its manuscript form. This monumental accomplishment was considered a work of great import. It had major scientific significance and was therefore applauded by Muslims, Orthodox Christians and Jews alike. Within this great text, we encounter a mentioning of the Sicilian town of Trabia and its locals, who had prepared long, thin pasta made of hard wheat which was exported to other areas.
The spaghetti that we know of today, however, seems incomplete without the tomato sauce. It must be noted that Europe did not grow tomatoes until they were brought over by the explorer Cortez from the New World in 1519. Tomatoes, at first, were grown for decorative purposes only, and it was not until the 18th century that they became a popular source of food.
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