Podcast 18 – Pasta Fazool: The Culinary and Linguistic Background of a Beloved Dish

Pasta fazool, or pasta e fagioli, quite literally translates to "pasta and beans", but it's so much more than that. It's a bowl of comfort seasoned with nostalgia and a heavy sprinkle of history. And while there are many ways to make it, and many ways to pronounce it, one thing is consistent: it's always delicious! Watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/FllIY-mtKeI What is pasta e fagioli? The only requirement for a dish to be called pasta e fagioli, or pasta fazool, is to contain pasta and beans. There are many variations but the most common combination is a small-shaped pasta, such as tubetti/ditalini, or elbows, and cannellini beans, navy beans, or borlotti beans. Some versions will be soupy, while others will be thicker; some may include pancetta, while others will be vegetarian. Some variations of pasta fazool will include tomato, while others will be "in bianco". I've eaten many variations throughout my life, and each time I make it I change it up ever so slightly. No matter how I make it, we always enjoy it and find it ultra comforting. Why do you pronounce it "pasta fazool"? I've been pronouncing this dish "pasta fazool" my entire life but I never understood the linguistic background until recently. In the Neapolitan dialect, fagioli, the Italian word for beans, is fasule; in Sicilian, the word is fasulu. Considering the fact that most of the Italian immigrants that came to the US are from Southern Italy, that would explain why many here in the US call it pasta fazool. In this episode, we dive a bit deeper into the linguistic and culinary backstory of this amazing dish! Resources Sip and Feast Pasta e Fagioli Recipe Sip and Feast Sausage Pasta Fagioli Recipe Sip and Feast Pasta e Ceci Recipe Sip and Feast Pasta e Patate Recipe Sip and Feast Pasta e Lenticchie Recipe Sip and Feast Garlic Butter Roast Chicken Recipe Philosokitchen History of Pasta Fazool If you enjoyed the discussion of Pasta Fazool episode, leave us a comment below and let us know! We love your questions. Please send them to [e-mail] (remove the 11111 for our contact). There’s no question not worth asking. If you enjoy our weekly podcast, support us on Patreon and you will get 2 more bonus episodes each month! Thanks for listening! For a complete list of all podcast episodes, visit our podcast episode page. Transcript Intro James (00:00):Welcome back to the Sip and Feast podcast, episode number 19, I believe this is? Tara (00:04):18. James (00:05):Thank you, Tara. This is pasta fagioli or pasta fazool, or pasta and beans. This is a discussion of one of the most quintessential Italian dishes and definitely an Italian-American favorite. And we're going to go into, again, the little bit of history in there, how to make it really good, and we'll share a couple personal stories about pasta fazool. How's that sound, Tara? Tara (00:32):Sounds good. James (00:33):So what are we doing next? Let's describe it Tara (00:34):Let's talk about pasta fazool. Let's describe it, maybe, for folks who aren't familiar with it, because I think for many people, even if they live in this area, they might not have actually had it. They may have heard about it because it is kind of a thing in pop culture. It's been in songs. Like that song I think everybody knows. That's Amore. One of the line's in it when something starts to drool like pasta fazool. James (01:04):Oh, really? Yeah, that's right. Tara (01:05):Yeah. So anyway, I think it would be helpful if you take a few minutes and describe it. James (01:12):We'll go more into detail later about it, but it's simply, at its core, pasta and beans. Think of this dish as typically done with white beans, sometimes other types of beans, but it's a small pasta, beans in a broth. Some people will make it brothier, some people will make it more thick. Really a peasant dish. Super peasanty and cheap where you can feed a whole family for a few dollars with this one. Tara (01:42):That's right. James (01:42):Any more detail you want me to give right now on this? Tara (01:45):Yeah, I think there's so many different ways to make pasta fazool. Yes, the basics are that it is usually a small pasta shape, like a ditalini, tubetti, or elbows, and then some type of bean like cannellini beans, navy beans, or borlotti beans, which are used widely in Italy, but they're harder to find here. James (02:10):Also, they're called cranberry beans- Tara (02:11):Cranberry beans. James (02:12):Here in America. Tara (02:12):That's right. Sometimes you start it with some pancetta or bacon, but you don't have to. Sometimes there's tomato, sometimes there's a lot of tomato, sometimes there's no tomato. James (02:23):And so there's a bunch of different ways to do it. You can start with olive oil, lard. Traditionally, if you go really far back, I would say… And again, we'll get into it in a sec, it would be done with lard, which is most Italian dishes were done with lard instead of olive oil. Olive oil is a more...