There are several sources which point out that the ancient Greeks and Romans already had foods made of flour and water. One example is a concoction called Lagana or Laganum .It seems to have originated from the ancient Greeks', referring to a pastry made of flour and oil. The dish was apparently introduced in antiquity into Magna Graecia and etymologically it was from this word that the Latin Laganum and later lasania, and the Italian lasaagna (still lagana in Calabrian dialect) derived. Horace told of a dish of leeks, chick peas and laganum in one of his satires, and Apicius uses the term pasta and lagana several times in his 3rd century cookbook, though as with various ancient culinary terms the semantic content of laganum is not really clear. Vehling's gloss in Apicius has it that laganum was a small pancake made of flour and oil.

According to Buonassisi the ancient Romans served it in strips, the dough having been baked before the other ingredients were added. It was apparently at some unspecified point in mediaeval times that the innovation of boiling the dough rather than baking it was made. The earliest attested use of the term laganum in the Italian vernacular seems to have been made by Marco's contemporary, lacopone da Todi (ea. 1240-1306). Historians suggest that there was a separate tradition in Italy of making a type of of baked 'pasta' that had nothing to do with China. This tradition had its genesis in the Imperial days of Rome. Although a known food, 'pasta' was not a major constituent of Roman cuisine. It survived without attracting much attention through the Dark Ages to the Renaissance. When the concept of noodles arrived, it merged easily into the indigenous circle of pasta foods, such as lagana. Even so, filamentous noodles did not become a conspicuous part of the food system until the invention of the Tagliatelle press in the 15sth century. In fact, they did not become popular until the 18th century when spaghetti came into contact with tomato sauce.'" This was surely one of the most felicitous unions in culinary history. The rich flavour and zest of the new world fruit gave the staid old-world pasta a new lease of life. The popularity of filamentous noodles soared, and spaghetti with tomato sauce has remained the most typical yet celebrated of Italian foods until the present day. We regret to say that Marco Polo had nothing to do with this happy development. It was strictly a marriage between old world staidness and new world charm.