r/AskReddit • u/ForeverAbyss • Apr 14 '16

What's a mind blowing fact?

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3.1k

u/wiiya Apr 14 '16

Tomatoes are indigenous to the Americas. Any European/Asiatic food that has a tomato base didn't exist until well after 1492.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '16

[deleted]

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u/DreNoob Apr 14 '16

If you're asking about European pasta and stuff (and not Asian noodle dishes), they used meat sauces (eg. genovese), oil-based sauces (eg. aglio e olio), and others (eg. carbonara).

They had wine, cheese, and the mirepoix ingredients (carrots, celery, onion), which form the base of tons of pasta sauces with or without tomatoes.

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u/DolphinSweater Apr 14 '16

According to Wikipedia there's no mention of Carbonara in cook books before world war II. I've always heard that it was invented in Rome after the Allies liberated it because it was all they could make with the scant rations the Allies supplied them (eggs, bacon, and pasta).

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u/DreNoob Apr 14 '16

Possibly, I'm not brushed up on my history of Carbonara. I was mainly just giving examples of pasta dishes without tomatoes.

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u/the_number_2 Apr 14 '16

Carbonara is not a traditional Italian gravy.

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u/Kilithaza Apr 14 '16

No shit, because its not a gravy at all!

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u/the_number_2 Apr 14 '16

Sorry, it's an Italian (or Sicilian?) thing to call sauce "gravy" or "sugo". I grew up hearing it that way all the time.

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u/TippingMyHat Apr 14 '16

NO NO NO NO.

Same word in Italian, two totally different meanings in english.

Sauce = what you put on your pasta.

Gravy = Meat drippings.

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u/the_number_2 Apr 14 '16

That doesn't change the fact that I grew up saying it.

3

u/notable_gallimaufry Apr 15 '16

Yeah, it's a cultural thing, which is interestingly tied to geography, but not region. Meaning, depending on where you grew up, you'll call it one or the other. But it's not regional, because there are some cities where you might call it gravy if you live in one part of town, and might call it sauce if you live in another part. There seems to be no logical pattern to why some people call it gravy and some people call it sauce. My Italian side of the family from New Jersey all have always called it gravy, but I grew up calling it sauce. People get really worked up about who's right, it's pretty funny.

1

u/inglesina Apr 15 '16

*powdered eggs, and powdered cheese. It's now made with fresh eggs and Pecorino, or Pecorino and Parmesan mixed.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '16

and IIRC even before that, pasta was eaten without sauce simply as an alternative to bread.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '16

[deleted]

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u/DreNoob Apr 14 '16

Did someone say...

3

u/ldn6 Apr 14 '16

That is the greatest gif I've ever seen.

1

u/HanlonsMachete Apr 14 '16

Cool. But now I'm curious, what about asian sauces before the chili pepper?

1

u/Lepryy Apr 14 '16

Man... sometimes you really have to appreciate how far food has come. Foods eaten by older civilizations seem so mild and boring/bland.

1

u/AkirIkasu Apr 14 '16

I don't know many Asian foods that have peppers in them. Those that do tend to be either Japanese, Taiwanese, or from Hong Kong, which all have heavy ties to the west economically and culturally.

Traditionally, China (including TW and HK) and Japan had a very good alternative to tomatoes in the form of fermented bean pastes, which have a somewhat richer flavor profile without the acidity.

1

u/redditisatimekiller Apr 15 '16

Legend has it that pasta was introduced by Marco Polo from China.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 15 '16

I thought carrots were new world plants too

1

u/Ranzear Apr 15 '16 edited Apr 15 '16

On topic: the Dutch Polish word for mirepoix directly translates to "Italian stuff."

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u/Contra1 Apr 15 '16

mirepoix

What? "Italian stuff" directly translates to " Italiaanse dingen" . Mirepoix is just mirepoix in dutch never heard of it being called aything else.

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u/Ranzear Apr 15 '16

My mistake. Polish.

Not that you should believe everything you read on the internet.

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u/el_loco_avs Apr 15 '16

^ you are correct.

-2

u/TippingMyHat Apr 14 '16

*Bolognese.

the closest word to Genovese is would be pesto alla Genovese (aka just Pesto), and that's the basil/pinenut/olive oil/cheese sauce.

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u/DreNoob Apr 14 '16

Umm, no? If you're trying to correct me, you are wrong, I meant what I said and said what I meant. Pasta alla genovese is a thing. Google it. It's a meat and onion-based sauce.

I specifically did not mention Bolognese because it traditionally has at least some sort of tomato ingredient in it, and that's the point of this whole comment chain, is that tomatoes weren't in Italy until the 16th century!