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Contrary to popular belief, Marco Polo did not discover pasta. The ancient
Italians made pasta much like we do today. Although Marco Polo wrote about eating
Chinese pasta at the court of Kubla Khan, he probably didn't introduce pasta to Italy. In
fact, there's evidence suggesting the Etruscans made pasta as early as 400 B.C. The
evidence lies in a bas-relief carving in a cave about 30 miles north of Rome. The carving
depicts instruments for making pasta - a rolling-out table, pastry wheel and flour bin. And
further proof that Marco Polo didn't "discover" pasta is found in the will of Ponzio
Baestone, a Genoan soldier who requested "bariscella peina de macarone" - a small
basket of macaroni. His will is dated 1279, 16 years before Marco Polo returned from
China.
Nutrition
Pasta is a good source of carbohydrates. It also contains protein. Carbohydrates help fuel
your body by providing energy that is released slowly over time.
One cup of cooked spaghetti provides about 200 calories, 40 grams of carbohydrates, less
than one gram of total fat, no cholesterol and only one gram of sodium when cooked
without salt. Read more about pasta nutrition.
All pasta is made by essentially the same equipment using the same technology. Also, in
independent taste tests conducted by Consumer Reports, Cook's Illustrated and The
Washington Post, U.S. pasta either was found superior to Italian imports or the judges
were unable to discern a difference between them.
To cook one billion pounds of pasta, you would need 2,021,452,000 gallons of water -
enough to fill nearly 75,000 Olympic-size swimming pools.
One billion pounds of pasta is about 212,595 miles of 16-ounce packages of spaghetti
stacked end-to-end -- enough to circle the earth's equator nearly nine times.
Production