On the 4th of January, the people living at Aliwal Manor Care Home in Cambridge Celebrated National Spaghetti Day! This Was the first national day celebration of the year, but many more are planned for the upcoming months.
To start the day, team members began by reading the origins of pasta and the different forms it has taken since.
They learnt that the first pasta was produced in Southern Italy back in the 12th century. In the 19th century, it became very popular all over Italy after lots of pasta factories were established and its products came into the mass market. Dried pasta started to become international in the mid 1700's as dried pasta manufacturers in Italy started producing something that would stand up to sea voyages. Late in the century, an immigrant engineer who helped keep many windmills operational started the first dried pasta company in England.
After learning these facts, Lifestyle Coorindator, Sarah came up with an activity that people could take part in using different pasta shapes.
They started by adding different food colouring to different types of pasta to create colourful pasta shapes. When this was dry, they used the pasta to stick inside empty chocolate boxes to frame their creative designs. This also made use of leftover items they had at the home, something the team members there always support.
As each person created their pasta art, they discussed memories from the festive period and new year celebrations. This involved relaxing with friends, sipping a tipple of their choice and sharing hopes for a better 2021.
Once the pasta art had been left to dry, the team displayed it around the home so everyone could appreciate the creativity and individual artistic efforts.