The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving and lasagna fun facts. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.

We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know we will look at Lasagna fun facts.

Lasagna Fun Facts: Lasagne is a wide, flat pasta shape and possibly one of the oldest. As with most other types of pasta, the word is a plural form. Lasagne meaning more than one piece of lasagna ribbon. The word also refers to a dish made with this type of pasta, in several layers interspersed with layers of ingredients and sauces.

• Lasagne originated in Italy, in the region of Emilia-Romagna.
• Traditionally, the dough was prepared in Southern Italy with semolina and water and in the northern regions, where semolina was not available, with flour and eggs.
• Originally, in Italy, the word “lasagna” did not refer to a food. The word “lasagna” referred to the pot in which the food was cooked. It is thought that the word “lasagna” for the pot is derived from the Greek word for “chamber pot.
• The earliest lasagna recipes known are dated from the thirteenth century. At that time, tomatoes were not known to Europeans. This means that they couldn’t have used them in the recipes. However, depending on the recipe, different cheeses are used.
• Boiling noodles used to be a requirement for making lasagna. No-boil noodles now exist. These are great as they soften in the oven, but it is absolutely necessary to make sure that there is a great quantity of sauce so the noodles get wet and cook while they are in the oven.
• You can make lasagna in the dish washer. All you have to do is put the ingredients together in a dish (either boils noodles or use the no boil noodles), cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil, then use the heated dry and sanitize cycle on your dishwasher to cook the lasagna.
• The most well-known bit of lasagna lore is probably that the cat, Garfield, from the comic strip, has lasagna as his favorite food.
• Weird Al Yankovic recorded a song called “Lasagna” that is a parody of “La Bamba”.

Key Date

• July 29th is National Lasagna Day.

Lasagna Fun Facts We Missed

Let us know if we missed and lasagna fun facts in the comment section or food truck forum. We always love to add to these lists. If we can verify the facts, we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about Lasagna.

Find all of the National Food Holidays to spice up your food truck menu specials throughout the year.