Later
19th century photograph of Neapolitans eating spaghetti in the street (photo by Giorgio Sommer)
In the 17th century, the region associated most with pasta moved from Sicily to Naples. Around 1630, Naples under Spanish rule was experiencing famines with a reduced supply of meat and vegetables due to poor governance. As technology permitting industrial mixing and extrusion dramatically reduced prices of output, pasta became a staple food, no longer the domain of the elite.[16][17] It is in this century that short cooktimes and firmer pasta textures emerged, although at first only for fresh pasta; it took until the mid-19th century in Naples for records of cooks taking a short cooktime and firm texture for granted.[18]
Around this time, pairing tomato sauces with pastas was becoming established among the Naples populace, the first records of the combination having appeared at the end of the previous century.[19] Grated cheese remained an essential element in preparations, although unlike in modern servings, sauces were served over grated cheese. It was not until the 20th century that the inverse became established.[20]
By the 1920s food writer Waverley Root could witness scenes in Naples of "home-made macaroni hung out to dry like the family washing—at the mercy of dust, dirt, insects and the depredations of passing pigeons, children and dogs".[21] By 1955, annual consumption of spaghetti in Italy doubled from 14 kg (31 lb) per person before World War II to 28 kg (62 lb).[22] In that year, Italy produced almost 1.5 million tons of spaghetti, of which approximately 5% was exported.[22]
Marco Polo story
Through the end of the 13th century, the Venetian merchant and adventurer Marco Polo travelled into Asia, detailing his expedition in The Travels of Marco Polo. Two centuries later, the geographer Giovanni Battista Ramusio read Polo's accounts in preparation for a new edition. In one of his stories, Polo told of the preparations made by the people of Sumatra with sago flour, likening them to the pastas and lasagnas he was familiar with in Italy, and described how he brought back samples to Venice. Misunderstanding this, in his 1559 publication Ramusio conveyed that Marco Polo had discovered pasta in China and brought it to Italy.[23]
This legend persisted, and was developed further in a 1929 article in the American industry newsletter the Macaroni Journal, where the author credited the invention of spaghetti to a member of Polo's crew named Spaghetti. In the story, Spaghetti made landfall in China in search of water. On shore, he encountered a farm woman stirring a batter which hardened in the hot, dry climate. Realising this would store well on long voyages, Spaghetti returned to the boat with some batter and kneaded it, formed it into long strips, and cooked it in the salty sea water.[24][25]
