According to Wikipedia, pasta is “a generic term for food made from an unleavened dough of wheat or buckwheat, flour and water...” and “include noodles in various lengths, widths and shapes, and varieties...”
Pasta therefore is pansit with spaghetti as its most prominent representation in the Philippines.
The word “pasta” is both English, Italian, Latin, and Greek and means “salted” or “sprinkled with salt”. Its origins is complicated and ancient with pasta forebears like the North African couscous and Chinese millet and rice noodles that have been around for centuries. Something called itrion has been mentioned in 2nd century Greece, itrium in 3rd-5th century Palestine, and itriyya in 9th century Syria.
The Italian connection surfaced in the 1150s from the itriyya made and exported from Norman Sicily, which begot the Italian trie, and laganum which begot the Italian lasagna.
The Chinese connection is more of a legend --- that of pasta being brought by Marco Polo from China --- which was spawned by the American commercialization of it. But then, the Chinese has been eating millet noodles since 2000 BC.
FOOTNOTE: The top photo shows a Creamy Tomato Pasta Bowl that was Bulan's choice for breakfast during a stopover at a KFC diner along NLEX on our way to Manila. The pasta bowl is basically a spaghetti dish topped with chunks of sliced fried chicken. He said he liked it and the KFC Twister too but he won't touch the mashed potato.
The second photo shows the spaghetti served for snack during a conference at the Imperial Palace Suites. Looks sure can deceive. But good enough for a hungry me.
Pasta therefore is pansit with spaghetti as its most prominent representation in the Philippines.
The word “pasta” is both English, Italian, Latin, and Greek and means “salted” or “sprinkled with salt”. Its origins is complicated and ancient with pasta forebears like the North African couscous and Chinese millet and rice noodles that have been around for centuries. Something called itrion has been mentioned in 2nd century Greece, itrium in 3rd-5th century Palestine, and itriyya in 9th century Syria.
The Italian connection surfaced in the 1150s from the itriyya made and exported from Norman Sicily, which begot the Italian trie, and laganum which begot the Italian lasagna.
The Chinese connection is more of a legend --- that of pasta being brought by Marco Polo from China --- which was spawned by the American commercialization of it. But then, the Chinese has been eating millet noodles since 2000 BC.
FOOTNOTE: The top photo shows a Creamy Tomato Pasta Bowl that was Bulan's choice for breakfast during a stopover at a KFC diner along NLEX on our way to Manila. The pasta bowl is basically a spaghetti dish topped with chunks of sliced fried chicken. He said he liked it and the KFC Twister too but he won't touch the mashed potato.
The second photo shows the spaghetti served for snack during a conference at the Imperial Palace Suites. Looks sure can deceive. But good enough for a hungry me.
