Pasta has been an Italian tradition for hundreds of years. To passionate Italians, pasta is poetry. They're so devoted to their national dish, there's even a pasta museum in Pontedassio, Italy, filled with antique pasta-making implements and dried specimens of pasta dating back 100 years.
The Italian, Marco Polo, has been given credit for introducing pasta to Italy. However, there's evidence that the ancient Etruscans in Italy were eating pasta at least 1600 years before Marco Polo was born.
Furthermore, the Chinese are known to have been eating a "noodle-like food" as early as 3000 BC. It is also believed that the Ancient Greeks, Romans and even Arabs had discovered the simple delights of pasta long before Marco Polo was around. In fact, Greek mythology suggests that the Greek God 'Vulcan' invented a device that made "strings of dough".
Whatever its origin, there is no doubt that even if pasta wasn't invented in Italy, it was certainly the Italians who perfected the art of pasta making.
Dried pasta became popular through the 14th and 15th Centuries, as it could be easily stored on ships setting out to explore the New World. Various types of pasta, including long hollow tubes, are mentioned in the 15th Century records of Italian and Dominican monasteries. By the 17th Century, pasta had become part of the daily diet throughout Italy because it was economical, readily available and versatile.
Thomas Jefferson has been credited with bringing the first "macaroni" maker to America in 1789, but full advent of electricity in the 1900's made life a lot easier for the pasta industry. Machines took over the labour intensive chores like mixing the dough and cutting the shapes.
Unfortunately, there is nothing inherently interesting about pasta salad. It is pasta. It is vegetables. It is "dressing" - sometimes a tart, tangy vinaigrette, sometimes a naughty, creamy mayonnaise. It can be served hot or cold.
Pasta Salad is an Australian Cuisine. It became especially popular during the 1990's when the Mrs Crockets company launched in supermarket stores across Australia. It is made up of cooked pasta peices (usually either shell pasta, elbow shaped pasta or Penne) covered in mayonaise and accompanied by carrots, Capsicum (Bell Peppers), and sometimes celery. It is similar is style to the American Macaroni salad.
