Kevin S. Wilson wrote:
> On Wed, 29 Jun 2005 21:00:38 +0000 (UTC), (Glitter
> Ninja) wrote:
>
>>Goomba38 > writes:
>>
>>>No need to say "spaghetti noodles" instead of just spaghetti (linguini,
>>>ravioli, macaroni...)
>>>It grates on the ear.
>>
>> OK, I'll do whatever you say.
>
> Not so fast. Goomba (if that is his real name) would be correct except
> for one troublesome fact: linguini, ravioli, and macaroni all
> originated in Italy, while spaghetti noodles is an Americanized type
> of Italian pasta that has always been referred to as "spaghetti
> noodles." The development of spaghetti noodles is similar to that of
> chow mein, a "Chinese" dish that originated in San Francisco,
> California.
This is dead, dead wrong. Spago means string. Spaghetti means little
strings (spaghetto in singular). Spaghettini means very little strings.
As Italian as can be. Spaghetti alla chitarra (key-tar-ra)has been a
staple of Italian cuisine for centuries. It literally means spaghetti
made on a guitar and was originally made by putting many thin wires very
close to each other on a wooden frame reminiscent of a guitar, but much,
much closer together, and pushing flat sheets of pasta dough against
them, cutting the dough onto long, narrow strands. Later, but still
centuries back, Italians made spaghetti as we do today, extruded through
dies.
No one says spaghetti noodles who knows anything about pasta. Noodles is
an adaptation of the German words nudel and nudeln which are essentially
the equivalent words for pasta. Related to knödel (the K is pronounced)
which is a sort of like an Italian gnoccho (note spelling of singular).
In Germany, they say spaghetti, ravioli and lasagne (lasagna singular).
And they say nudeln. A medium-width nudel I had there was called
bandenudeln or, loosely, ribbon noodle. The Italian would be either
tagliatelle (tahl-ya-tel-leh) (cut pasta - tagliare [tahl-yar-eh] is to
cut) or fettuce (feh-too-cheh - ribbon) or fettucine (small or narrow
ribbon) ribbon pasta.
Spaghetti is very Italian.
Pastorio