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 Fun Pasta Facts
Did You Know?
The Chinese are on record as having eaten pasta as early as 5,000 B.C.
There are more than 600 pasta shapes produced worldwide.
Pasta is found in the will of Ponzio Baestone, a Genoan soldier who
requested "bariscella peina de macarone" - a small basket of macaroni
(Marco Polo didn't "discover" pasta).
Thomas Jefferson is credited with introducing macaroni to the United
States, he fell in love with a certain dish he sampled in Naples.
The first American pasta factory was opened in Brooklyn, New York, in
1848, by a Frenchman named Antoine Zerega.
To cook one billion pounds of pasta, you would need 2,021,452,000
gallons of water - enough to fill nearly 75,000 Olympic-size swimming
pools.
One billion pounds of pasta is about 212,595 miles of 16-ounce packages
of spaghetti stacked end-to-end -- enough to circle the earth's equator
nearly nine times.
Consumers enjoy pasta for dinner more than 40 times a year
(approximately once a week).
October is National Pasta Month.
The word "pasta" comes from the Italian for paste, meaning a combination
of flour and Water.
Pasta existed for thousands of years before anyone ever thought to put
tomato sauce on it. The Spanish explorer Cortez brought tomatoes back to
Europe from Mexico in 1519.
Cooked al dente (al-DEN-tay) literally means "to the tooth".
One cup cooked spaghetti provides about 200 calories, 40 grams of
carbohydrates, less than one gram of total fat, no cholesterol and only
one gram of sodium.
Made in the U. S. A.
Pasta made in the United States is the finest in the world. Here's why:
Strict production standards assure uniform size, shape, and quality that
you can count on time after time.
By law, enriched macaroni and noodle products must contain added
vitamins and minerals: thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid, and
iron.
America's heartland is the world's best source for high quality Durum
Wheat from which semolina, the primary ingredient in pasta, is made.
What's the Difference Between Pasta and Noodles?
There are two basic forms of pasta - macaroni and noodles. Macaroni
products are made from semolina and water. Noodles are made from Durum
flour (a more finely ground form of semolina), water and, by Federal
regulation, egg solids. So, without the egg solids, a pasta product
can't be identified as a noodle. Because people often equate eggs with
cholesterol, noodles are sometimes mistakenly singled out as a less
healthy pasta choice. Yet one two-ounce serving of uncooked noodles, or
the equivalent of one and one-quarter cups of cooked noodles, contains
70 milligrams of cholesterol - 23 percent of the U.S. Government
recommended Daily Value. Some noodle-shaped pastas are "Yolk-Free" and
contain only egg whites and are cholesterol-free.
Energy Sources
A person's fitness level determines the amount of fat, carbohydrate and
protein the muscles will use as fuel while at rest and during exercise.
The fuel used by muscles will depend on the intensity and duration of
the exercise. As activity levels change, the body uses different
mixtures of fuels.
At rest, people get about 10 percent of their energy from protein, about
40 percent from fat, and about 50 percent from carbohydrate.
In moderate intensity activities, such as jogging or aerobic dance, the
energy source is an even mix of fat and carbohydrate. Training alters
the fuel mix with a shift to more use of fat.
At high intensity exercise, including running, swimming, or cycling,
carbohydrate is the major fuel. Fat and protein still contribute to
total energy.
In long-duration activities, such as marathons, or triathlons, the
length of time a person can exercise depends upon the amount of
carbohydrate stored in the muscles and liver. This carbohydrate is known
as glycogen.
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