Spaghetti alla Carbonara

The oldest myth in gourmet mythology is the heroic tale of Marco Polo, intrepid Renaissance Venetian traveler, and how he imported pasta from the court of Kublai Khan in Cathay. Evidence for noodles in Italy before Polo is abundant. But if pasta is primordial in Italy, why does it also predominate in the national culture? One hardly needs to point out how pervasive this form of quick bread, whether extruded, rolled, or stamped out, is in the alimentary univ