Name: ________________________________ Class/group: _____________________ Date: ______________________

PASTA
If you ask people: ‘what do Italians eat?’ - they answer:
‘pasta and pizza’. And I bet that most people in the world
have eaten pasta, if not pizza! Pasta is very versatile – you
can add meat, fish, vegetables or cheese and you can serve
it with any sauce you want. A popular sauce in the UK is
Bolognese, which is a meat and tomato sauce. We usually
have this sauce with spaghetti. In fact, many British people
say that spaghetti Bolognese, which we shorten to ‘spag bol’
is their favourite dish. Pasta is made from wheat and it comes in many different
shapes. There are about three hundred and fifty shapes of pasta, and even more
names for them! For example, in English ‘farfalle’ pasta is called butterfly pasta and
also bow tie pasta. Did you know that pasta can be organised into different groups?
There is long pasta, which includes spaghetti; tubes, which includes penne; pasta for
soup, which includes alfabetti; stuffed, which includes ravioli and then there is special
pasta which can be any shape. Special pasta includes fusilli. In Italy, pasta can be
served as a starter, or a main meal. It is also an ingredient in that famous Italian
soup, minestrone, which means ‘big soup’. Pasta is a versatile, nutritious and quick to
prepare meal. You can add parmesan cheese if you like it. Perfetto! Buon appetito!

TRUE OR FALSE? CORRECT THE SENTENCES WHICH ARE FALSE:

1. __ People think that Italians eat fish and chips all the time.
2. __ You can add many different ingredients to pasta.
3. __ Many British people love a dish called ‘spaghetti milanese.’
4. __ Pasta is made from potatoes.
5. __ There are many different shapes of pasta.
6. __ Pasta can be divided into different groups, or categories.
7. __ Pasta is an ingredient of a dessert called tiramisu.
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS IN FULL SENTENCES:
a) What have most people in the world probably eaten?
b) What can you add to a pasta dish?
c) What is ‘spaghetti Bolognese?’
d) How many different pasta shapes are there?
e) Is pasta always a main course in Italy?
f) Which group or category of pasta is spaghetti in?
g) What do you think ‘perfetto’ and ‘buon appetito’ mean in English? How do you
translate them into your language?

DO YOU LIKE PASTA? WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PASTA DISH?

Keys

T/F
1. F - they think they eat pasta and pizza
2. T
3. T – it’s called spaghetti Bolognese
4. F – it’s made from wheat
5. T
6. T
7. F – it’s an ingredient in minestrone

Q&As
a) They have probably eaten pasta.
b) You can add meat, fish, vegetables or cheese, or any sauce you like.
c) It is spaghetti with a meat and tomato sauce.
d) There are about 350 types of pasta shape.
e) No, it can be served as a starter.
f) It is a long pasta.
g) Perfect! Enjoy your meal!

I like/don’t like/love/hate pasta. My favourite dish is….