pasta

There’s something quite magical about pasta. It doesn’t shout for attention or demand a complicated prep. It just … works. Whether it’s bubbling away on a weeknight stove or served with ceremony on a Sunday lunch table, pasta has this amazing ability to make people feel at home. And when it’s paired with the right meat, that’s when it transforms from a simple dish into something truly memorable.

Just like cheese and wine or bread and butter, meat and pasta is a match made in heaven – what can be more delicious than strands of pasta covered in your favourite tomato or cream-based meat sauce?! Just thinking about Carbonara Alfredo or Ragù Napoletano has us craving what must surely be Italy’s greatest export – and yes, the pasta did originate in Italy, despite a misconception that it was first eaten in China.

Very little feels more commonplace than a knife and fork. We take our eating utensils for granted and we can’t imagine anyone enjoying a ‘civilised’ meal without them, but as we know, that hasn’t always been the case. So, how did cutlery develop, and which came first – the knife or the fork?

Last week we looked to Innova Marketing Insights for their predictions on what’s hot and what’s not for the coming year – this week we turn to Packaged Facts and Mintel for their trends and we end off with highlights from Food24 and a few of our local, South African chefs.

PACKAGED FACTS’ TOP TRENDS

The Comrades Marathon is a South African institution, as much part of our history as mining and braaing. Run for the first time more than 90 years ago and 89 km long, it is considered the world’s largest and oldest ultramarathon. If you’ve ever wondered where the name Comrades comes from, it was inspired by the League of Comrades of the Great War.

We’ve dealt extensively with how pre-and probiotics can influence your gastrointestinal tract and why it’s vitally important to keep your digestive system functioning optimally – we all know happy guts equal happy bodies. But in an age of ever-increasing food sensitivities, another topic is raising its head as a potential culprit of digestive issues: FODMAPs.