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a brief history of pasta. luca cesari. profile books hardback 362pp £16.99

i rather doubt that i'm alone in having a pasta maker stored in the kitchen cupboard, a device that still resides in its original packaging, unopened. and, like many a cyclist, i devour a substantial amount of pasta on a weekly basis, predominantly because i like it, but also because pasta has a reputation as an excellent source of carbohydrate, something that, at one time at least, every cyclist's body reputedly demanded to finish off that lengthy or arduous bike ride. the reason for the pasta maker was in the possibly mistaken opinion that making my own 'artisinal' pasta would not only be cheaper, but somehow more effective.

you can see how that turned out.

according to an article from bicycling magazine, the principal reason that pasta is considered an ideal food for cyclists is its low fat content balanced against the aforementioned, high carbohydrate content. whole-grain pastas are high in fibre, vitamins and protein, making them sound like a one-stop shop for the intrepid bicyclist. if there's a downside to pasta as a food choice, it has less to do with the product itself, much more to do with how we present it. adding cream sauces, filling tortellini with cheeses, rolling it all in pesto, then sprinkling parmesan shavings on top, will undoubtedly add to the calories consumed, probably several of which we have little or no need.

but then, you'd have to be a professional cyclist with contractual obligations to eat simply cooked pasta on its own. i doubt that many of us fall into the latter category, so pesto, parmesan and cheese it is.

author, luca cesari, according to the brief biography at the back of this book, as a fussy youngster "was lovingly fed tagliatelle alla bolognese and tortellini by his grandmother", a factor of his upbringing that created a fascination with pasta ever since. in his introduction, the author rightly points out that any thoughts of pasta or its many recipes, bring with them immediate identification with italy, from whence the product is assumed to have originated.

"Yet pasta does not just belong to Italy [...] "pasta is just one way of eating a dough of water and flour."

and while pasta seems predominantly to exist in recent history; "The circumstances of its birth are also rather hazy, and although we know that Sicily was a centre of production for dried pasta as early as the twelfth century, the thread of its origins gets lost somewhere back in Classical Greece and the Near East."

however, this apparently brief history of pasta is less than directly concerned with the historical aspect of the product and more with the origin and provenance of the various receipes in force today. and despite many a british restaurant or hotel tending to offer pasta as a vegetarian option on their menus, the author is keen to point out that many of the original italian concoctions contained some manner of pork, which, in many instances, has engendered a great deal of the controversy that apparently still exists.

much of this is at the behest of emigration; when italians moved abroad to britain or the usa, they tended to take with them the recipes current at the time of their departure from their homeland. this, the author conjectures, is perhaps why the very thought of macaroni cheese would cause a frothing of the mouth in a present day italian trattoria, yet is served as a staple on every calmac ferry with dining facilities. and, if you guessed that it is served as often the sole vegetarian option, you'd be right on the money. cesari contends that while it was and is common practice to confetti a pasta dish with grated or shaved cheese (pecorini rather than parmesan, it appears), macaroni in a cheese sauce will not be found in italian restaurants today.

in fact, the principle purpose of mr cesari's book is not necessarily to investigate its present day status or its carbohydrate content, but predominantly to discuss the various recipes proffered as 'original', such as that of fettucine alfredo, amatriciana, carbonara, or lasagne amongst others. many of these recipes are reprinted here, though i believe more for comparitive purposes, rather than in the manner of a cookbook, alongside which, the author discusses the merits of the various claims of originality.

while (in a translation from the original italian by johanna bishop) the book is almost conversational in style, as if we were sat in a kitchen with mr cesari, i feel it would have benefited greatly from a range of accompanying illustrations or images of the recipes or pasta under discussion. i, for one, have no idea what amatriciana looks like, and given the nature of the acknowledged discrepancies of interpretation and originality, it would have been instructive to note precisely what the author means by fettucine, for example.

if, as did i, you hoped to learn of the efficacy of pasta as a food of the gods, or even just of cyclists, then this may not be the book for you. however, if the origination of certain pasta recipes and their untold derivatives might prove of interest, 'a brief history of pasta' will not disappoint. in the light of that which i have learned, there may be hope for that pasta machine in the kitchen cupboard after all.

sunday 8 january 2023