One in three Italians enjoy home-made pasta on a regular basis, farm group Coldiretti said on World Pasta Day this Tuesday.
Food service agency ISMEA said its #NowPasta tour in 10 cities for the occasion had been a huge success, stating that there had been 10,000 tastings and 2,100 'edugames', among many other events.
Sponsors of the event included four elite Italian athletes, fencer Rossella Fiamingo, swimmer Simona Quadarella, and water polo players Francesco Di Fulvio and Alessandro Velotto, ISMEA said.
The Italian foreign ministry, the Farnesina, tweeted:
"Today we celebrate World Pasta Day, a fundamental foodstuff in the Mediterranean Diet, an excellent Made in Italy product, and an ambassador for Italian cuisine and the Italian lifestyle all over the world."
According to Aidepi (The Italian Association of sweets and pasta), Italy produces over 3 million tonnes of the food-stuff annually. Although the origins of pasta are often called into question, the Bel Paese is undoubtedly the home of the delectable carbohydrate.
While around 2 million tonnes of Italy’s pasta yield is exported (mostly to Germany, France, the UK, USA, and Japan), the rest is purchased and enjoyed within the country.
The average Italian reportedly consumes around 23.5 kgs of pasta a year, in a wide variety of shapes and textures. It’s estimated that there are about 350 forms of the starchy treat, all of which have different applications in regional dishes.
