If you thought the culture of eating with your hands is intrinsic to India and a few other Southeast Asian countries alone, we have an interesting story for you here. Ever heard of the ‘macaroni eaters’? Between the 17th and 19th Centuries, Naples in southern Italy witnessed the emergence of a curious street food tradition, where vendors sold inexpensive yet filling portions of what they called ‘macaroni’ to hungry local customers. Mind you, during those days, the word ‘macaroni’ was used more like an umbrella term for all forms of pasta. So, what people were actually served in their bowls and plates was spaghetti. What created a spectacle, however, was the dexterity with which the ‘macaroni eaters’ would lower handfuls of the noodles into their mouths and swallow them in one go!
In the course of time, this Neapolitan street food custom became a major tourist attraction, so much so that some travelling entertainment seekers would even pay money to roadside pasta-sellers to arrange for a demonstration. Soon cramming fistfuls of noodles into one’s mouth became sort of a gastronomical challenge.
Time and again, this quirky feat had piqued the interest of thinkers and authors too. According to Andrea de Jorio - a Neapolitan clergyman and ethnographer, who wrote about this street food tradition in his book published 1832 - to adopt the Neapolitan style of eating macaroni, one needs that the pasta be “swallowed down in a single, uninterrupted mouthful”. Adding to that, Italian antiquarian Andrea De Jorio said that the macaroni should be “poured into one’s mouth with both hands in such a way that there is no interval between successive mouthfuls, except what is necessary to allow the macaroni to reach the oesophagus”.
Also read: Spaghetti Alfredo, Lemon Meringue Pie And More: Athiya Shetty Enjoys Her Fancy Dinner Outing
History chapters will tell you that Naples first tasted the distinct rope-like dough, called pasta, some 300 years after Arab merchants introduced it to the people of Sicily around the 12th Century. It is believed that Italians started using the fork to eat ‘macaroni’ some time half way through the 14th Century. Initially, only the elite could afford the pasta on special occasions, let alone the peasantry and working class. But the whole scenario changed when the macaroni-eating culture became a street trend. There are other factors that could have fuelled the trend. The price of pasta and bread had decreased considerably during the 17th Century, while meat and vegetables became expensive around the same time. On the other hand, kneading troughs and new mechanical presses were introduced in Naples, meaning noodles could be produced at a much lower price than before. The region was already blessed with good-quality ingredients, while the sea air made it a perfect setting for making pasta sheets. Eventually, the Neapolitans became popular as ‘macaroni-eaters’.
This, in turn, boosted the fortune of pasta sellers, as the number of these vendors grew manifold during the 18th Century. One could see fresh pasta being laid out near the stalls for drying. Durum wheat was often used to make these pasta sheets. In terms of cooking the ‘macaroni’, huge pots were used to boil the noodles over a charcoal fire. To give pasta a tasty spin, pork grease and salt were added to the water. Then came the grated cheese and tomato sauce in the 19th century, as preferred choices for seasoning. The trend somewhat dampened in the 20th century when pasta-eating again became an indoor affair and forks were favoured over handfuls.
Cut to present times, Cuoppo Napoletano, Pizza a Portafoglio, Fried Pizza, Montanara, Zeppulelle and Frittatina di Pasta e Panuozzo are among the top street food favourites in Naples.