On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:00:25 -0700, Dan Abel wrote:

> In article >, "Judy" >
> wrote:
>
>> Anthony > wrote:
>>> Anybody have any good marinara sauce recipes?
>>
>> Depends on what country you're writing from? Here in Australia, we call
>> marinara
>> sauce a tomato sauce with lots of seafood added. I was very surprised when I
>> noticed that Americans refer to a tomato sauce as Marinara. I don't speak
>> Italian, but it makes sense to me that "Marinara" would have something to do
>> with
>> marine. As a matter of fact, I just Googled, sea=mare
>
> Interesting. As far as I've seen in the US, marinara sauce only has
> seafood if it is specified. Just plain marinara sauce would not be
> expected to have any meat at all in it. However, according to my
> dictionary, we are both right:
>
> marinara
>
> noun [usu. as adj. ]
>
> (in Italian cooking) a sauce made from tomatoes, onions, and herbs,
> served esp. with pasta.
>
> ORIGIN from the Italian phrase alla marinara 'sailor-style.'

that's my understanding as well - that it was a method sailors (or their
wives) cooked what was at hand, which of course was often seafood.

similarly to the way that you wouldn't expect pasta *puttanesca* to contain
meat from whores.

your pal,
blake