In England spaghetti and macaroni usually appear on the
menu as vegetables, and for a while this gave rise to odd con-
ceptions on the part of tourists unfamiliar with Italy's pastes.
Some visioned waving fields of spaghetti standing ripe and
ready for the harvester's scythe, others thought the hollow
macaroni was some kind of thick-stemmed water reed, but thanks
to Italian immigration these specialties are now as familiar as
German noodles. So nowadays no one is likely to fall into the
error of ordering a plate of new-mown spaghetti.
As a matter of fact, the making of macaroni was a secret
held within Italy until the fourteenth century, when it was in-
troduced into France. The history of the discovery of macaroni
is preserved in Naples; where early in the thirteenth century one
Chicho was suddenly impoverished by a turn of fortune and
decided that he would spend the rest of his life doing good for
others.
His first plan was to invent some tasty and economical food
for everybody. He invested what little was left of his money
ITALIAN 27
in materials and equipment and set to work in a humble attic
on a small Neapolitan byway called Cortillari. There he labored
night and day over his experiments. In a tall building across the
court-like street a shrewd woman called Javanella could overlook
his attic. She saw Chicho hard at work by candle light mixing
his wheat flour and pressing it through the crude apparatus he
had invented, watched him cook the long threads which came
out of the machine, observed the ingredients which he stewed
together to make the sauce, saw him eat it and knew that what
he had made must taste very good, so she busied herself in
imitating the new dish.
Other neighbors suspected that mysterious things were going
on in Chicho's room, lighted even after midnight, so it was easy
for Javanella to spread the rumor that he was a sorcerer, and so
discredit him until she had stolen the secret of making his dish.
Javanella's husband was a kitchen man at the palace of King
Frederick, so the good wife cooked a sample for him and con-
fided that the recipe had been revealed to her by an angel in a
dream. Since her husband highly approved of the unique and
satisfying dish she begged him to ask the king's chef to allow
her to make it for the king.
The chef arranged to have macaroni served at the king's
table and he, himself, became as puffed up as the cooked paste
through knowing a mortal who consorted with angels and had
thus come into possession of a miraculous recipe.
King Frederick ate his fill of Javanella's angel food and pro-
nounced it divine. He showed his appreciation by giving her a
hundred pieces of gold, which was a fortune in those days. From
then on, macaroni appeared often at the king's table and Java-
nella's fame spread through Naples. Princes and aristocrats
came to buy her recipe and serve the luscious paste at their
banquets of state.
Meanwhile honest Chicho finished his experiments, left his
28 THE EUROPEAN COOKBOOK
Page 12
Presented as published in 1936. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
In England spaghetti and macaroni usually appear on the menu as vegetables, and for a while this gave rise to odd conceptions on the part of tourists unfamiliar with Italy's pastes. Some visioned waving fields of spaghetti standing ripe and ready for the harvester's scythe, others thought the hollow macaroni was some kind of thick-stemmed water reed, but thanks to Italian immigration these specialties are now as familiar as German noodles. So nowadays no one is likely to fall into the error of ordering a plate of new-mown spaghetti.
As a matter of fact, the making of macaroni was a secret held within Italy until the fourteenth century, when it was introduced into France. The history of the discovery of macaroni is preserved in Naples; where early in the thirteenth century one Chicho was suddenly impoverished by a turn of fortune and decided that he would spend the rest of his life doing good for others.
His first plan was to invent some tasty and economical food for everybody. He invested what little was left of his money in materials and equipment and set to work in a humble attic on a small Neapolitan byway called Cortillari. There he labored night and day over his experiments. In a tall building across the court-like street a shrewd woman called Javanella could overlook his attic. She saw Chicho hard at work by candle light mixing his wheat flour and pressing it through the crude apparatus he had invented, watched him cook the long threads which came out of the machine, observed the ingredients which he stewed together to make the sauce, saw him eat it and knew that what he had made must taste very good, so she busied herself in imitating the new dish.
Other neighbors suspected that mysterious things were going on in Chicho's room, lighted even after midnight, so it was easy for Javanella to spread the rumor that he was a sorcerer, and so discredit him until she had stolen the secret of making his dish. Javanella's husband was a kitchen man at the palace of King Frederick, so the good wife cooked a sample for him and confided that the recipe had been revealed to her by an angel in a dream. Since her husband highly approved of the unique and satisfying dish she begged him to ask the king's chef to allow her to make it for the king.
The chef arranged to have macaroni served at the king's table and he, himself, became as puffed up as the cooked paste through knowing a mortal who consorted with angels and had thus come into possession of a miraculous recipe.
King Frederick ate his fill of Javanella's angel food and pronounced it divine. He showed his appreciation by giving her a hundred pieces of gold, which was a fortune in those days. From then on, macaroni appeared often at the king's table and Javanella's fame spread through Naples. Princes and aristocrats came to buy her recipe and serve the luscious paste at their banquets of state.
Meanwhile honest Chicho finished his experiments, left his