Pasta Salad

Aw pasta salad, an American classic. It’s not often the first thing people think about when planning a BBQ but it’ll certainly be missed if it’s not provided in the spread. Simple, full of flavor, and a great choice for getting rid of some leftovers. This Dan-O’s inspired pasta salad brings noodles of flavor to the table, and can be whipped up in about 30 minutes as a great last minute addition. Serve this up alongside some 3-2-1 ribs, or smoked chili lime wings and you’re going to have a great meal.

A Very Short History of Pasta Salad

There is in fact no definitive history of pasta salad. But there are a few theories to its history! Claudia Roden, a cultural anthropologist & cookbook author, traces the origins of pasta salad to Italian Jews in the Roman Empire. It is believed that they would reuse cold pasta on Sundays, as Jewish Law prohibited cooking on the sabbath. Other historians believe that it dates further back to the Phonecians between 2500 – 64 BC. However the modern version of pasta salad, the one that uses macaroni noodles, dates back to sometime in 1914 when American cookbooks and newspapers started printing versions of it en masse.

The American pasta salad is believed to be derived from 19th century German immigrants who propagated their style of mayo & mustard potato salads throughout the country. Around this time, Macaroni was considered an “ethnic” Italian food that was just getting started in American food culture. Many Americans were confused with what to do with freshly cooked macaroni, let alone the leftovers, so it’s believed that Americans just started throwing stuff together like they saw the Germans do with potato salad. inIN 1930, Washington Post published a recipe titled “mock potato salad” that used macaroni. As time drifted on, American culture transformed the once simple idea of pasta salad into an American classic.