A Short History of Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce

Intellectually engaging & deliciously readable, a stereotype-defying history of how one of the most recognisable symbols of Italian cuisine & national identity is the product of centuries of encounters, dialogue, & exchange.

Is it possible to identify a starting point in history from which everything else unfolds—a single moment that can explain the present & reveal the essence of our identities? According to Massimo Montanari, this is just a myth: by themselves, origins explain very little & historical phenomena can only be understood dynamically—by looking at how events & identities develop & change as a result of encounters & combinations that are often unexpected.

As Montanari shows in this lively, brilliant, & surprising essay, all you need to debunk the "origins myth" is a plate of spaghetti. By tracing the history of the one of Italy's "national dishes"—from Asia to America, from Africa to Europe; from the beginning of agriculture to the Middle Ages & up to the 20th century—he shows that in order to understand who we are (our identity) we almost always need to look beyond ourselves to other cultures, peoples, & traditions.

Massimo Montanari is Professor of Food History at the University of Bologna & one of Europe’s foremost scholars of the evolution of agriculture, landscape, food, & nutrition since the Middle Ages. His works have been translated into many languages across the globe.