Pastified

For generations in northern Europe, Italian food meant tinned spaghetti in tomato sauce - easy to heat and pair with anything. Pasta's popularity soared during the Covid-19 pandemic, becoming one of the most sought-after products in EU supermarkets in April 2020.

Currently pasta comes in endless varieties, with fresh being the main preference. Italy remains the global leader in both consumption and innovation, where a pasta dish is part of every meal - though never the main course. In Spain, to eat pasta means variations like penne, linguine, macaroni, lasagna etc, much as anywhere else, but with the addition of pin-sized fideos, usually included in broths and lighter meat dishes, but also added to multiple fish dishes.

Beyond the familiar lies the rarest pasta of all: su filindeu ('threads of God'), a Sardinian speciality. These ethereal noodles are stretched by hand into 256 gossamer strands - finer than human hair. Once made only twice a year for pilgrims walking 30 kilometres overnight from Nuoro to Lula for the Feast of San Francesco, su filindeu is deeply rooted in religious tradition, and the number of women who knew the method dwindled. At one point, just three people in the world could make it.

This remarkable contrast between pasta's humble convenience and its most sacred form illustrates both its universal appeal and cultural depth. Whether from a tin or a remote Sardinian kitchen, pasta continues to evolve while retaining its timeless connection to history and identity.