[Dr. Sivana]

Why is everything called pasta now instead of macaroni and spaghetti? Macaroni was an economical dish when I was growing up. Did they switch the name to Pasta to make it sound classier.

There are so many kinds of pasta, linguine, ziti, lasagna, vermicelli, angel hair, cavatelli, rotini, mostaccioli, shells, ravioli. They ALL can be inexpensive. So maybe spaghetti-Os and Chef Boyardi was mostly macaroni and spaghetti, as was the school cafeteria, but where I grew up in Connecticut there were lots of choices, and pasta was the term to encompass them all, just as beef describes both hamburger and sirloin.

[heylady]

I grew up in Rhode Island, surrounded by Italians to the point I think I’m Italian. Never said pasta, just macaroni and spaghetti. They were all Sicilians so maybe that’s the difference.