About National Macaroni Day
Thomas Jefferson introduced pasta to the Americas after first tasting it in Naples, Italy. He was the American Ambassador to France at the time. In 1789, he brought the first pasta machine, along with crates of macaroni, back to the United States.
Even though pasta is thought of as an Italian delicacy, it originated in China as early as 5,000 B.C. Another common misconception is that Marco Polo introduced Chinese pasta to Italy… In fact, another Genoan soldier requested “bariscella penia de macarone” – a small basket of macaroni- in his will some 16 years before Marco Polo returned from his travels to China.
