A surprisingly wide-ranging journey into the story of this beloved dish and âan utterly fascinating discourse on food historyâ (The Daily Beast). Intellectually engaging and deliciously readable, this is a stereotype-defying history of how one of the most recognizable symbols of Italian cuisine and national identity is the product of centuries of encounters, dialogue, and exchange. Is it possible to identify a starting point in history from which everything else unfoldsâa single moment that can explain the present and reveal the essence of who we are? According to Massimo Montanari, this is just a myth. Historical phenomena can only be understood dynamicallyâby looking at how events and identities develop and change as a result of encounters and combinations that are often unexpected. As he shows in this lively, brilliant, and surprising essay, finding the origin of spaghettiâor anything elseâis not as simple as it may seem. By tracing the history of the one of Italyâs ânational dishesâ âfrom Asia to America, from Africa to Europe; from the beginning of agriculture to the Middle Ages and up to the twentieth centuryâhe reveals that in order to understand our own identity, we almost always need to look beyond ourselves to other cultures, peoples, and traditions. âMontanariâs research will delight readers and provide plenty of fodder for dinner-table discussion.â âBooklist âFull of delicious details.â âPublishers Weekly
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