What is pasta? Well, this dish is intimately associated with Italian cuisine and, indeed, the first reference to pasta dates back to 12th century Sicily. However, the dish itself is probably older, as there are references to similar dishes dating back to the first century BC. Pasta being older is not surprising, because it is such a simple dish.
Pasta is actually a type of noodle, a dish which dates back over 4,000 years. Like noodles, pasta is made from an unleavened dough (being unleavened it tends not to rise when cooked) made from flour. Durum wheat is a common type of flour, but there are other cereals, grains and even eggs which can be used.
The dough is made into different shapes. There are currently 310 different types of pasta known, which are called by over 1,300 different names. Pasta can come in different colours, too. Some pasta comes in sheets (such as that which makes lasagne), but tubes, shapes and stuffed types are also common.
Pasta is an incredibly versatile dish. It's not so much what the pasta is, but what other things you can cook with it - which is pretty much anything.
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