Maccheroncini

This is a tubular pasta, quite narrow, 3–5cm in length – and would be called macaroni outside of Italy (the name clearly derives from maccherone, itself probably stemming from the Greek makaria, ‘food of the blessed’). In Italy, maccherone is the generic term for all dried alimentary doughs cooked in broth or water (i.e. dried pasta) – and until recently, this was also true Stateside. Only in 1981 did the National Pasta Association acquire its new name, previously the National Macaroni Institute.