Massimo Montanari’s A Short History of Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce offers an insightful, informative, and entertaining discussion on the numerous encounters that influence a particular recipe over time. Spaghetti with tomato sauce is a perfect example of a popular dish that took centuries to evolve into the ubiquitous meal it is today. In this slim book, Montanari attempts to prove his argument in twenty-three short but detailed chapters dedicated to each element of the humble dish. Drawing evidence from the ancient, medieval, and modern sources, he calls into question terms like “origins,” “roots,” and “identity” as perilous words that are restrictive and do not reflect the material reality of food. Food products and recipes tended to change as people moved, found new food sources, and experimented with new flavors and trends.

Montanari gets to the core of his argument in the first two chapters. Referencing Marc Bloch’s theory of the...

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