Versatility, Range — Pasta

Now, I know a lot of us love pasta but we are probably used to only a few. Some people will rather not even eat a shape of pasta they are not familiar with. For me, I love to explore and if you know me well, you’ll know I am versatile person and I love versatile dishes: Pasta, chicken, eggs, beans and I’m really good at preparing them if I do say so myself.

Back in the day in Nigeria, you could only really find spaghetti and maybe, macaroni in stores because those were what we were used to. However now, you can find as much shapes and types of pasta as you please though not produced in Nigeria but sold in Nigeria. Oh and Happy Democracy Day Nigeria!

You can actually have pasta as a meal twice a day for an entire year without having to repeat the same shape in a day, week, month or the entire year. That is because, there are a plethora of pasta in the world and I just want to give 10 of these that I’m very familiar with, that I have prepared and I have eaten myself.

1. Spaghetti

Pronounced: spah-geh-tee

2. Macaroni

Pronounced: mar-cuh-roe-nee

3. Penne

Pronounced: Peh-neh

4. Farfalle

Pronounced: far-fall-lay

5. Fusilli

Pronounced: foo-zee-lee

6. Lasagna pasta

Pronounced: luh-zahn-yuh

7. Fettuccine

Pronounced: fay-tuh-chee-nee

8. Rigatoni

Pronounced: ri-guh-toe-nee

9. Vermicelli

Pronounced: ver-mi-chell-ee

10. Linguine

Pronounced: lin-gwee-nee

By looking at each one of them in a store, I can tell their names. Notice the pronunciation for each pasta beneath the pictures. This post is for my readers to be able to tell the variety of pasta they buy when next they go to a store.

While writing this post, I read so much about pasta and these are a few fun facts I will like to share:

1. Everyone attributes pasta to the Italians but the real originators of pasta or noodles are the Chinese. They have been making noodles for a long time however, noodles was imported to and rebranded in Italy with the use of new ingredients and flour which was made out of dough in a paste-like consistency making the name “pasta” being the Italian word for “paste”. Italy now takes the glory for the best pasta.
2. There are about 600 shapes of pasta on earth and maybe even more.
3. Pasta day is celebrated twice in October. The 17th and the 25th October are both nationally and internationally celebrated as World Pasta days.
4. The most popular shapes of pasta are Spaghetti, Macaroni and Penne pasta.
5. Most dried pasta are only made from semolina flour and water or egg.
6. Final fact will be you answering my question in the comment section: What is the singular word for spaghetti?
7. Here’s a little fact you should also know about pasta water.

Homemade pasta

When talking about range and versatility in dishes, pasta comes to mind for me always. So, next time you go to buy pasta, remember this post.

Thank you for reading my blog today. Let me know your preferred shape of pasta and the singular word for spaghetti in the comments section below.

Kindly leave a clap or two and please follow on my social media pages: Instagram (@ajebospice), Twitter (@ajebotweets).

Don’t forget that variety is the Spice of life. *wink*