Pasta - did the Romans have it?

[satsobek]

Yes we had pasta. The basic dish was " Pasta-Fagioli" and we also had tomatoes although there is a wide opinion that Romans didn't yet incorporate them into daily diet.

I have a great cousin in Campo Basso in Abruzzi who said that it was originally a very simple dish developed over a period of time. The idea was to provide gladiatorial and certain work force classes with a high nutrient high energy food that could be made in bulk quickly and easily with simple ingredients . It started out as a bean and meat dish but later on was prepared with small macaroni now called " ditalini", peppers and the meat was 86d. optional hot pepper seeds are usually offered with it.

My father made it every Friday (Roman Catholics) and I grew up on it. I still make my own today and it's simple, one pot prepartion yet delicious.

Recipie is a real quickie if anyone wants it.

Cheers,

Richard

I don't know about pasta... but the ancient Romans had tomatoes? hock: Are you sure there isn't some other similar vegetable you are thinking of? What we call tomatoes today are new world plants; they were unknown in Europe until at least the 16th century. Even then, tomato consumption was limited primarily to southern Europe and south America because an influential English scientist had written that the fruit was poisonous, or at least not very tasty. It took another 100 years or so before it was being eaten regularly by everyone.