Pasta

The shapes of pasta may be infinite in number, but the types of pasta number only two: dried pasta made from semolina flour and fresh egg pasta made from soft wheat flour. Though some women continue to make pasta by hand at home, everyone uses dried pasta at least some of the time. Industrially made pasta first appeared in Italy in the 1820s or 1830s, and many women who are now grandmothers remember when it first came into their households, a novel product indeed. These days everyone uses spaghetti, fusilli, penne, bucatini, lasagne, tiny pastine for soup, and dozens of other shapes.