There is a lot of arguing when it comes to the origins of pasta and its introduction to Italy; did the Italians invent pasta? There is no doubt that, whatever the true origins, Italians are responsible for the way we eat and prepare pasta today. They attacked pasta with the same gusto they apply to life and now people enjoy pasta worldwide.
Some believe Marco Polo brought dried pasta back to Italy in 1295 after his 20 year travels abroad in China, but in 1279 a Genoese soldier listed in the inventory of his estate a basket of dried pasta ('una bariscella plena de macaronis'). The Chinese are known to have been eating a "noodle-like food" as early as 3000 BC. Marco Polo does describe a starchy product made from breadfruit in his travels, but breadfruit isn’t close to semolina and the pasta we know today.
There is solid evidence that the Arabs brought dried pasta to Sicily when they invaded in 831AD. The Arab geographer, Al Idrisi wrote that a flour-based product in the shape of strings was produced in Palermo, then an Arab colony. He documented that this pasta was made in such quantities that it met the needs of the people and was exported throughout Muslim and Christian lands. How pasta was served is not truly known but many Sicilian pasta recipes still include other Arab influences such as raisins and spices like cinnamon.
During his years as American Ambassador to France, Thomas Jefferson developed the gourmet tastes that would lead him to plant vineyards, and to garden extensively at Monticello. On his return in 1789, he brought the first "maccaroni" machine to America. Since he fed mostly his friends and acquaintances, this was not a defining moment in history, but he was fascinated enough with the noodles to invent a pasta machine of his own. Though Jefferson had a personal taste for pasta, it was first produced commercially by a Frenchman in Brooklyn. A fact, we’re sure, you should not go yelling in little Italy.
Giuseppe Garibaldi knew a thing or two about fighting, having led his red shirts to victory in the struggle for control of Naples in 1860. A central figure in the creation of the modern state, he said in his call to arms "It will be maccheroni, I swear to you, that will unite Italy." And it did. The war torn Italy was united and what the people had in common was pasta and their love for it.
Pasta may have led directly to the popularity of the fork. According to The Medieval Kitchen, the fork was in use from the 14th Century in taverns and manors alike, for eating pasta. Eating food with your fingers and a knife had been common practice, but eating pasta this way is pretty difficult (sauce all over your corset). Initially, a pointed stick was used to eat hot pasta, but the fork proved to be more practical.
