I’m pretty sure Italian children are made up of 90% pasta. The other 10% is probably pizza or Nutella!
Bucatini, spaghetti, campanelle(bells), farfalle (butterfly or bow tie), conchiglie (shells), fettuccini, fregola (Sardinian pasta), fusilli, gemelli (twins- twisted ties), linguine, malloreddus (Sardinian pasta)...the list continues for pages with different variations.Every child and person at all stages and ages in life holds a special spot for their favorite variety.
My nonno Livio liked spaghetti N3 from Barilla. Nonna Laura liked N5 (slightly thicker and also the most traditional). Sometimes we boiled two pots of water to accommodate the opposing preferences. I know- serious business! In the end, is there anything better than a mouthful of your fave al dente spaghetti!? I don’t think so :). As children my cousin Chiara and I fought over which kind of pasta to serve for pranzo (lunch). I was team farfalle and she preferred conchiglie (until she wanted farfalle then I changed to conchiglie ). The loyalty to pasta shapes is real in Italian DNA and starts from early childhood.
It’s a memorable occasion when your child picks up a fork and makes the perfect bite sized spaghetti swirl twirl around their fork for the first time. Almost symbolic of a developmental milestone. I remember teaching my children (still teaching my baby Claire) the correct form of this process as my mamma taught me, her mamma taught her, and so on...
It’s an art. A uniform way of taking several spaghetti strands, pulling them to the side of the plate, spinning the fork between thumb and index finger until the roll is complete. The result creates a perfectly balanced bite. A little piece of Italian heritage taught every day in homes all around Italy.
“La vita è una combinazione di pasta e magia” Federico Fellini (Life is a combination of pasta and magic).
At least, it is for me ️.
➡️What’s your favorite shape or kind of pasta? What’s your favorite memory of eating pasta❔
↗️send story to a friend who loves pasta
Written with Amore,
️Elena
Leave a Reply