Talk:Pasta

Couscous is not similar to pasta. Who writes this nonsense? 2A0D:6FC2:5AC1:DF00:D104:1E08:DAE6:EB39 (talk) 18:33, 8 June 2025 (UTC)

I agree, couscous is not similar to pasta, it is pasta.

To answer your question, I wrote a little bit of this nonsense, along with many many others, and I'm very pleased with it so far. Roxy the dog 18:39, 8 June 2025 (UTC)

Couscous means something different depending on where it's encountered. In the US, for example, it's a pasta but in the middle-East it's some type of grain or a grain-based product (Israeli couscous). 57.135.233.22 (talk) 16:59, 7 September 2025 (UTC)

It is claimed at the end of the "History" section that pasta was eaten dry with the fingers and the introduction of tomato sauce was the reason it was switched to a fork. However, the citation appears to be a cooking blog from 2003, and a more recent article by Atlas Obscura claims pasta was regularly eaten with a fork by the wealthy much before tomato sauce was introduced to Italy, but I couldn't find a source for this claim from Atlas Obscura. I think that at the very least, this claim shouldn't be included on the page, or could rather reference the Neapolitan macaroni eaters discussed in the Atlas Obscura article. Rabiflop (talk) 04:34, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

Yes, I've removed. There are records of pasta being eaten with forks from at least the 15th century. Rollinginhisgrave (talk | edits) 04:47, 29 December 2025 (UTC)

Trump removed tariffs on pasta, why isn't it written? ~2026-12130-5 (talk) 22:16, 6 January 2026 (UTC)

I've removed the Trump tarriffs information altogether as some form of Wikipedia:Main article fixation. Rollinginhisgrave (talk | edits) 22:29, 6 January 2026 (UTC)

Can someone please remove the colon and add a full stop? The right title is Il paese dei maccheroni. Storia sociale della pasta: https://www.bibliotechebologna.it/lang/it/objects/il-paese-dei-maccheroni-storia-sociale-della-pasta. ~2026-10595-45 (talk) 19:54, 16 February 2026 (UTC)

From the History section: The first concrete information on pasta products in Italy dates to the 13th or 14th centuries. In the 1st-century writings of Horace, lagana (sg.: laganum) were fine sheets of fried dough and were an everyday foodstuff. Writing in the 2nd century, Athenaeus of Naucratis provides a recipe for lagana which he attributes to the 1st-century Chrysippus of Tyana: sheets of dough made of wheat flour and the juice of crushed lettuce, then flavored with spices and deep-fried in oil. An early 5th-century cookbook describes a dish called lagana that consisted of layers of dough with meat stuffing, an ancestor of modern-day lasagna. However, the method of cooking these sheets of dough does not correspond to the modern definition of either a fresh or dry pasta product, which only had similar basic ingredients and perhaps the shape.

The first sentence states that the first concrete information on pasta products dates to the 13th or 14th centuries. The text then goes on to tell us of concrete information about pasta dating to earlier centuries, contradicting the first sentence. Finally, the last sentence says "Haha, fooled you, nobody would consider those to be pasta anyway." OK, I exaggerate, but this all needs to be fixed, along with the following paragraph going back in time one more time to discuss precursors to pasta. What of this isn't actually about pasta or its predecessors, and if there is any such thing, can we remove it? And can we push the remainder of it into chronological order? Largoplazo (talk) 03:32, 19 February 2026 (UTC)

Montanari has a good treatment that is unused here but is partially used in spaghetti. The idea is that there is a European tradition of fresh pasta and a Middle Eastern/African tradition of dried pasta. Around (before) the 12th century, dried pasta entered Italy via Sicily and became conceptually associated with the European tradition creating the broader concept of "pasta" even as foods themselves preceded the concepts. Not sure how much Serventi and Sabban have been superseded, there seemed some conflict as to the transport of pasta or pasta-like foods to Sicily. Would be really good if we had more Italian language sources. I have thought for a little while that a History of pasta page is needed; I lack the energy nor inclination to edit in this topic area for a time so it's all yours if you want it. It's important to recognise that the distinction between pasta and proto-pasta is subjective and should be attributed. Rollinginhisgrave (talk | edits) 04:01, 19 February 2026 (UTC)