Rumour has it that the world great explorer Marco Polo & his uncle, Maffeo, brought pasta (noodles of some sort) back to Italy from their China visit. Maybe. Others claim charcuterie (Sausage, bacon and ham ) was invented in China and were brought back to Italy by Marco Polo from China. The story has a certain romantic charm. Does it really matter?
But who invented pasta with meat sauce or sausage? Legend has it that spaghetti with sausages is descended from noodles, based on the premise that Venetian nobleman and merchant Marco Polo imported long, worm-like strands of the latter to Italy from China in the late 13th century.
To many, though, the Chinese origins of Italian pasta are a myth.
Marco Polo did indeed spend several years in China, learning the country’s traditions and culture, and he may have brought Chinese noodles and other foods back from his journeys. But Italian food historians say pasta culture was already flourishing in the Mediterranean region centuries before he travelled east, among the ancient Greeks and later among the Romans (see map).
“Noodles are one thing, pasta another food altogether,” says Ms Anna Maria Pellegrino, a food historian and a member of the Italian Academy of Cuisine. “ They reflect two separate culinary cultures and identities that have developed in parallel, the only conjunction being the need for nourishment and, above all, to share around the same table feelings and everyday life events.
