At birth I had to get my Tracheoesophageal fistula repaired. In simple terms, my air tube and my food tube were connected at birth and I needed to have surgery to separate them. This surgery led to a lifetime of acid reflux that still affects me today. Although it has gotten increasingly better over the years, I still struggle to digest certain foods. This has always been hard for me growing up and getting to see my friends eat foods I couldn’t, such as late night ice cream and pizza. I have always loved Italian cuisine; however, I struggled to digest red sauce which posed a challenge. I discovered as I got older new pasta dishes that I could digest without red sauce like Cacio e Pepe, and these soon became my favorite.

My love of Italian food stemmed from my best friend growing up. Her parents both were born in Italy and shared a love for food. Whenever I would go to her house for dinner I was amazed by the quality of food I was served. I sometimes would beg my mom to let me go for dinner there just so I could get a taste of the delicious food they would give me. I loved hearing about their family traditions that revolved around food. For example, they would get together every year to make soppressata and wine from scratch. It was an all-day event that they would have to rent a space for due to the number of people in attendance. My family and I were always thrilled to receive their soppressata and wine. What I most enjoyed though, was how food brought their large family together.

My love of Italian food and culture led to my attempt to emulate a signature pasta dish: Pasta Aglio e Olio. I chose this dish due to its lack of red sauce and the fact that it sounded delicious. When exploring this dish I realized I had eaten it many times without knowing the name! My best friend’s mom would always whip us up pasta with garlic and olive oil which is essentially all this dish is.

Pasta Aglio w Olio is known as one of the simplest dishes that originated in Italy. It is said to be the “ultimate , grown-up version of buttered noodles” (Nasello). This dish can be served for any occasion at any point in the day. In Italy after going out at night a common saying is “Andiamo da me a farci una Spaghettata! (let’s go to my place to eat Spaghetti!),” because Pasta Aglio e Olio is so simple this is often the pasta dish of choice after going out (Trapella). This dish can also serve as the basis for other pasta meals. Italians sometimes add a protein like pancetta or vegetables to this dish to give the dish more substance (Nasello).

Pasta Aglio e Olio has a very meaningful history that surrounds it. The regional origin of this dish is not completely known, but it can most likely be tied back to Naples, though some believe it is tied to the Abruzzo region (Prakash). The most important root of this dish comes from the poor farmers who first created it (Prakash). The poor farmers owned limited ingredients. Therefore, they were only able to make limited dishes. This meal was created using the very basic ingredients that the farmers owned which led to its unique simplicity. It is believed that the Pasta Aglio e Olio dish was a poor farmers take on the Neapolitan dish, Linguini with white clams (Trapella). This is due to the unmistaken similarity between the two dishes minus the clams which the poor farmers could not afford. The Pasta Aglio e Olio recipe appeared for the first time in the cookbook “Cucina Teorico Pratica” written by Guido Cavalcanti in 1837, under the name of “Uermiculi Aglio e uoglie”; a different take on this dish was suggested by Jeanne Caròla Francesconi who used Linguine instead of Vermicelli pasta (Trapella). The Pasta Aglio e Olio represents the poor farmers in Italy who were forced to adapt with what ingredients they had.
I thoroughly enjoyed getting to spend an entire day making pasta from scratch! I found that this project allowed me to feel part of the Italian culture. I got to experience first hand all the hard work and time that is poured into making pasta from scratch. I now understand how pasta is a symbol of love after seeing the time invested in making it. I also have gained an understanding of how making pasta is a family event. When I was making the pasta by myself, at times I wish there was someone to keep me company. Soon, my mom joined me in the activity and I really enjoyed us both working together and talking as we did so. When my mom and I worked together to eat the dish I created, we spent time talking about her past experiences making pasta when she traveled abroad. Even though my family is not ancestrally Italian, I adored how a dish could bring me closer to my mom’s past and allow me to feel even more connected to her. I loved being able to research the deep history of this dish as it made me feel significantly more connected to Italian culture. I never knew that a project which involved making pasta could make me feel so connected to both the history and culture of Italy, as well as my family.