Anyway, Day or no Day, it’s always a good time to reflect on the dismal dominance of pasta in contemporary diets. The great reformer, William Cobbett, had a downer on the potato as an essentially alien foodstuff by comparison with morally sound and wholesome bread. Well, potatoes and bread are both leagues ahead of pasta as a stomach filler and provider of energy. The dominance of pasta in the British diet, as seen in the acreage given over to it in shops, is a sign of a nation with impoverished indigenous gastronomy, of cooks with not much time to cook anything more than a length of starch in boiling water for 10-15 minutes. At least in Italy, it’s commonly a first or second course that fills you up before you get to the interesting things: meat, fish, vegetables. Here it’s the default option for people who can’t, won’t, cook.
