Pasta lovers across the United States celebrate National Macaroni Day on July 7 every year. The day allows people to dig into their favourite pasta. Macaroni typically does not contain eggs and it is a large variety of dry pasta made with durum wheat. The name ‘Macaroni’ had been given to the pasta because of the dough used to make the pasta. It is formed into straight, shells, spirals and other shapes too. However, people in the United States mostly like to have elbow-shaped macaroni.

Macaroni can be used to make various dishes, from salads, soups and other hot dishes. The unique pasta noodle helps to prepare any meal in no time. Making mealtime less stressful, several dishes made with macaroni can be prepared ahead. Even making dishes with macaroni helps you to feed more people. These versatile noodles can be served as a base for meat dishes as well as cheesy vegetarian dishes too. So it doesn’t matter if you are a non-vegetarian or vegetarian, you can easily celebrate National Macaroni Day with full spirit. And now, here we have also mentioned 10 interesting facts about macaroni that will make you say ‘Pasta La Vista, Baby’. Take a look:

1. The product as well as the name ‘Macaroni’ derived from the ancient Greek ‘Macaria’.

2. However, British author John Dickie mentioned in his book Delizia! The Epic History of Italians and their Food that the word macaroni, and its earlier variants like maccheroni, "comes from maccare, meaning to pound or crush."

3. Macaroni or the Italian maccheroni comes from the Latin macerare. The word means to crush or bruise. And pasta is made by crushing wheat.

4. In Canada, they call it Kraft Dinner while in the United States and England it is macaroni and cheese.

5. Interestingly, fashionable men who wore expensive Italian clothes in the 1700s were called macaroni.

6. Each year, the average Italian eats 62 pounds of pasta whereas the average American eats 19.8 pounds.

7. There are about 350 different shapes of pasta that originated in Italy.

8. Macaroni is traditionally a breakfast food in Hong Kong. They cook it with peas, mushrooms, eggs, chicken stock and ham.

9. Macaroni provides the required amount of carbohydrates in your body if you have it in a healthy way.

10. Macaroni has properties that help to regulate blood sugar levels and are also required for activating antioxidants found in the body.

Now, you can easily prepare a meal using macaroni and enjoy the dish without getting conscious of putting on weight.  There are several recipes available on the internet, choose one and prepare a dish to celebrate National Macaroni Day on July 7.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 07, 2021 12:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).