Pasta different names depending upon the town and region. Common forms of pasta include long and short shapes, tubes, flat shapes or sheets, miniature shapes for soup, those meant to be filled or stuffed, and specialty or decorative shapes. As a category in Italian cuisine, both fresh and dried pastas are classically used in one of three kinds of prepared dishes: as "pasta asciutta" (or "pastasciutta"), cooked pasta is plated and served with a complementary side sauce or condiment; a second classification of pasta dishes is "pasta in brodo", in which the pasta is part of a soup-type dish. A third
National Pasta Association The result of this meeting was the establishment of the National Macaroni Manufacturers Association. In 1981, the name was changed to the National Pasta Association. National Pasta Association The National Pasta Association (NPA) is a trade association of professionals in the United States pasta industry. The NPA originally formed as The National Association of Macaroni and Noodle Manufacturers of America in 1904, making it one of the oldest trade associations in the United States. The first commercial pasta plant in the United States was founded in 1848 in Brooklyn, New York. By the turn of the century, the pasta industry