Pâte à pâtes

Generally when people think pasta they think Italian—and well they should. In European cuisine, the vast array of pasta shapes, stuffings, and sauces are certainly a gift from Italian cuisine. The origin of pasta, however, is less certain. According to 16th century travel writer Giovanni Ramusio, Marco Polo brought wheat noodles back to Venice from China in the 13th century. If, however, Italians contest the origins of pasta, they are not alone; in Asia, th