Pasta salad (pasta fredda) is a salad dish prepared with one or more types of pasta, almost always chilled, and most often tossed in a vinegar, oil, or

mayonnaise Mayonnaise (; ), colloquially referred to as "mayo" , is a thick, cold, and creamy sauce or dressing commonly used on sandwiches, hamburgers, composed salads, and French fries. It also forms the base for various other sauces, such as tartar ...

-based dressing. It is typically served as an appetizer, side dish or a

main course A main course is the featured or primary dish in a meal consisting of several courses. It usually follows the entrée ("entry") course. Typically, the main course is the meal that is the heaviest, heartiest, and most intricate or substantial o ...

. Pasta salad is often regarded as a spring or summertime meal, but it can be served any time of year.

Origins

Whilst there is no clear origin for the salad, there are various theories that claim different origins for the salad. Some historians and chefs such as Claudia Roden trace back the origin of pasta salad to Italian Jews in the Roman Empire, who reused cold pasta as Jewish Law prohibited cooking on sabbath. Others date it even further back to the Phoenecians. The modern version of pasta salad that uses macaroni noodles dates back to 1914 in an American recipe.

Ingredients

The ingredients used vary widely by region, restaurant, seasonal availability, and/or preference of the preparer. The salad can be as simple as cold

macaroni Macaroni (, Italian: maccheroni) is dry pasta shaped like narrow tubes.Oxford DictionaryMacaroni/ref> Made with durum wheat, macaroni is commonly cut in short lengths; curved macaroni may be referred to as elbow macaroni. Some home machines ...

mixed with

(a macaroni salad), or as elaborate as several pastas tossed together with a vinaigrette and a variety of fresh, preserved or cooked ingredients. Additional types of pasta may be used, such as

ditalini Ditalini (Italian: "small thimbles", also referred to as tubettini) is a type of pasta that is shaped like small tubes. It has been described as "thimble-sized" and as "very short macaroni". In some areas it is also called "salad macaroni." Duri ...

. These can include vegetables,

legumes A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock fo ...

, cheeses, nuts, herbs, spices, meats, poultry, or seafood. Broccoli,

carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in color, though purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild carrot, ''Daucus carota'', nat ...

baby corn An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

cucumber Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated Vine#Horticultural climbing plants, creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical Fruit, fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.

, olives, onion, beans,

chick pea The chickpea or chick pea (''Cicer arietinum'') is an annual legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Its different types are variously known as gram" or Bengal gram, garbanzo or garbanzo bean, or Egyptian pea. Chickpea seeds are hi ...

s, peppers, and

parmesan Parmesan ( it, Parmigiano Reggiano; ) is an Italian hard, granular cheese produced from cows’ milk and aged at least 12 months. It is named after two of the areas which produce it, the provinces of Parma and Reggio Emilia (''Parmigiano'' is ...

or feta cheeses are all popular ingredients in versions typically found at North American salad bars.

Oceanic commercial variation

In Australian and New Zealand cuisine, pasta salad became increasingly popular during the 1990s when commercial versions became more readily available in supermarket stores. It is made of cooked pasta pieces (usually either shell pasta, elbow-shaped pasta or penne) covered in mayonnaise and accompanied by carrots, capsicum (bell peppers), and sometimes celery. It is similar in style to the American macaroni salad.

Gallery

File:Pastasalad.JPG, A pasta salad with

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

, chicken and vegetables File:Pasta salad.jpg, The pasta salad at the Du Ve Sue in New Orleans File:Pasta salad with lobster, butter beans and chives.jpg, Pasta salad with lobster, butter beans and chives File:Pasta salad (2).jpg, A pasta salad prepared with

fusili Fusilli () are a variety of pasta that are formed into corkscrew or helical shapes. The word ''fusilli'' presumably comes from ''fuso'' ("spindle"), as traditionally it is "spun" by pressing and rolling a small rod over the thin strips of pasta to ...

pasta File:Macaroni salad closeup.jpg, Macaroni salad with a mayonnaise dressing

References

External links