You can even easily make your own pasta from a simple recipe, aided by a pasta maker. Simple mixtures with a bit of kneading, followed by stretching, slicing and coloring (or not) provide for a dozen different types.

All pasta is made from a simple flour and egg mixture, blended together and sliced in different ways. Thin and long or short and tubed, it offers structural variety and a taste that is delightful even plain with just a sprinkle of olive oil.

Since it's made from flour and egg, pasta makes for the perfect ingredient for many healthy recipes. Whether combined with a slab of fish that's chock full of omega-3 fatty acids, or just served plain with a fine glass of red wine, this simple food can be great for your heart.

Because of the gluten and starch that threads throughout pasta, along with its geometry and combination of stiffness and flexibility, this versatile food makes for a great base. Sauces cling to the starch, the geometry allows for creative stuffing and the flexibility makes possible a wide variety of attractive serving options.

Pasta has an ancient and honorable history. While stories of being introduced to the West by Marco Polo are mythical, it nevertheless has graced kitchens for centuries. Ancient Chinese certainly had a hundred uses for this flexible food. The Etruscans, progenitors to the modern Italians, were no stranger to the delights of pasta.

Pasta can serve as a great comfort food, without being high in fat. It can be used in the most sophisticated dishes that justify high prices at elegant 4-star restaurants. Pasta is found in a hundred forms from all around the world.

Everything from simple alphabet soup or chop suey to a more complex Tortelli di Zucca can be found along one's travels. The latter is common in Mantova at the base of the Apennines and a trip to Italy would not be complete without trying some. But even a simple macaroni and cheese at home can be plenty satisfying on a cold evening.

For such a simple to make food, pasta has an amazing variety of uses in cooking. At the same time, it tastes great and satisfies. How many foods can say that?

First invented by the Roman chef after whom the dish is named, it consists of just pasta, parmigiano and butter.

You'll need:

1 lb fettuccine
1/2 lb parmigiano reggiano cheese
1/2 lb butter
and a little bit of salt.

Boil the fettuccine in salted water until al dente, this is firm, not undercooked, but not too soft. The key is to use enough water to allow the pasta to have space to move around. That allows even heating and a uniform coating of starch that's boiled out of the pasta. Drain, but don't rinse.

Warm the butter in a large bowl to a little more than room temperature, making it soft and easy to spread. This can be done any number of ways, but one easy method is to add a small amount of water to a ceramic bowl, then microwave. Take care not to overdo it, though. Microwaves can be damaged if the bowl becomes dry and there's no remaining water to heat. Then add room temperature butter to the heated bowl.

Grate the cheese into fine, small chunks. If the cheese is slightly dry, sprinkle a few drops of the water used to boil the pasta into the bowl with the cheese.

Drop the still hot pasta over the butter, add the cheese and toss vigorously. Stir until the pasta is well coated with the soft, gooey mixture. Cover and let sit for a couple of minutes.

For a delightful variation, add a teaspoon of garlic powder to the mix and stir in well. For the true iconoclast, substituting a bit of romano cheese for the parmigiano is an option. To spice it up just a bit, sprinkle a dash of cayenne pepper into the bowl and work it in.

For a thicker sauce, simmer butter, garlic powder and two cups of heavy whipping cream in a saucepan for about 20 minutes, stirring constantly. Other variations include using a bit of cream cheese to thicken the mixture still further. Blue cheese (about four ounces, crumbled) has even been used instead.

For a lighter sauce, substitute milk for the cream.

For a seasoning variation, a bit of basil can be added to the mixture.

But remember, for every deviation from the 'vanilla' recipe you're moving farther away from the true, traditional all'Alfredo style made famous by the chef to celebrities in Rome during the 1950s. But, hey, rules were meant to be broken!

Any food which can satisfy and remain relatively unchanged for 500 years surely has some remarkable properties. Made from simple ingredients - wheat and eggs - and processed in a simple way - just basic mixing - are just two reasons, but fundamental ones. Healthy, appetizing and easy to prepare by simple boiling or baking are other attributes that are equally important.

The many shapes and sizes of pasta aren't just a modern marketing gimmick, either. They serve a good purpose. Providing lots of surface area on this starchy food allows sauces to cling well. Coming in a variety of useful shapes means the ability to stuff, layer or otherwise offer versatility in recipe invention.

Pasta, almost alone among foods, goes well with a huge variety of other ingredients. Everything from bacon and steak to asparagus and peas can be part of a great pasta recipe. The range of compatible sauces, from simple marinara to a fine clam, is unequaled in other foods. And, how many foods can serve superlatively in such a wide assortment of recipes both cold and hot?

Pasta is a very healthy food, too. Despite its reputation, pasta is a low-calorie, heart-beneficial dish. With only 200 calories per cup (two servings) and a gram of fat, it is perfect even for those on a strict diet.

As a complex carbohydrate, it is digested slowly, leading to an even and gradual production of blood sugar. As a food high in fiber, there is evidence that it is helpful in forestalling intestinal and other cancers. Often fortified with folates and naturally packed with essential minerals, it is heart-healthy, as well.

It's easy to prepare, easy to cook and makes for a great presentation on the table. There's a good reason so many Italian restaurants continue to do good business. But it's equally welcomed at home where it can inexpensively feed a family of five or a party of fifty.

But one thing about pasta has changed dramatically over the centuries. There are today more helpful tools and machines to create and prepare pasta than ever before. The variety and utility of rollers, cutters, bowls and other tools is greater than ever. Materials science and ergonomic designs have made these things stronger, healthier and less expensive. Pasta making machines are cheaper, more reliable and come with a larger assortment of useful attachments than they did even as recently as twenty years ago.

So when you think of pasta, you don't need to think of a 'food you really shouldn't eat' or one that is just mundane. It's healthy, can be prepared in a dazzling array of tasty dishes, and is just plain great.

Certainly the ancient Greeks had some form of flattened dough that resembles lasagna. The knowledge to mix wheat and egg with water was known long before. But the result was roasted on hot stones. Whether this should be called 'baking' is a matter of semantics. The Romans quickly followed suit in the 1st century AD with a layered dish comprised of 'lagana' and meat or fish.

By the 5th century AD, cooking noodles was commonplace, as is known by references from the Talmud. This record of pasta-like preparation in Arab lands provides a basis for the claim that the practice spread to Italy from Arabia. With the incursion of Arabs into Sicily, they would undoubtedly have brought a food that could travel well. A flour-based product in the shape of strings was produced in Palermo at the time that might fit the bill.

While for a time it was thought that Marco Polo returned from China in 1295 with pasta, there are Italian recipe books from twenty years earlier containing references to pasta dishes. However, it is certain that he did encounter pasta on his travels. Since China is an ancient civilization, with a complex culture dating back 5,000 years, it's likely that pasta existed in China very early.

Nevertheless, pasta did become more popular during the 14th century and spread to the 'New World' as Italian and Spanish explorers sailed the seas to new lands. In the 'Old World' it continued to spread, with tubes of pasta in use at 15th century Italian monasteries. By the 17th century, it was a common food throughout the region.

In the New World, pasta grew in popularity through the 18th century. By its end, it graced the table of Thomas Jefferson and commoner alike. When the American Ambassador returned from France in 1789 he brought with him a maccaroni maker that he used to delight friends.

Macaroni and cheese was enjoyed by many during the period of the Civil war in the mid-19th century (1859-1864), owing to its ease of storage and cooking, along with the satisfying taste.

But it was with the large Italian immigration around the turn of the century that pasta really took off in America. Spaghetti, lasagna and a great many other forms became widespread as a result. With the ubiquitous consumption of pre-made dried macaroni and cheese during WWII, the dish became a staple of the American diet for decades after.

But whatever its true origins, and subsequent history, one thing is sure. Pasta is here to stay.