Pasta is not just for Italians. People all over the world enjoy a good plate of it. And actually, if you want to be technical, the origin of pasta is not from Italy but from China, however that is not the point or focus of this article. Our mission is to simply make you aware of all the different types of pasta and pasta dishes you can enjoy.

Probably the most common pasta dish is spaghetti. There probably isn't a kid in the world who doesn't love spaghetti and meatballs. As a matter of fact, this dish is so popular that they even put it in cans now. Just pick up a can of spaghetti-O's and you'll see for yourself. But real good spaghetti is not something you're going to get from a can. Your quality spaghettis come in a box and need to be cooked well, not just thrown in a microwave. Cooking spaghetti is a matter of taste. Some people like it very firm while others prefer it cooked a little longer, about 10 minutes or so. The less you cook it the harder it will be to digest. Just a warning.

There are also many types of spaghetti as far as the thickness of thinness of each strand. If you check out your supermarket, you will probably find about six or seven different thickness' of spaghetti, including linguini which is actually a flat spaghetti, with most spaghetti being round.

Does any of this really taste any different though? Well, yes and no. Depending on the brand of spaghetti and what kind of wheat it's made of, there can be slight differences in taste. But the truth is, the taste of your spaghetti is going to depend more on what you serve it with, on, or under. Pasta has many uses and there are many dishes you can make out of it.

But spaghetti and linguini aren't the only forms of pasta you have available to you. There's also elbow macaroni which is great for making chop suey and of course every kid's favorite dish, macaroni and cheese. While it's probably easier to just buy the Kraft Macaroni And Cheese and cook it up, there's nothing wrong with making home made.

But getting back to all the things you can do with pasta, while there are just way too many to list all the dishes, there are a few that are quite popular besides the old spaghetti and meatball standby.

For starters, there's the classic dish, linguini and claim sauce. This is something that you will find in your finer Italian restaurants and pizzerias. It's not suggested you order this dish from an American restaurant as it's not likely to be all that good.

Then of course there is the very popular pasta primavera, which actually didn't come into vogue until the 1970s, at least in America. This is actually an Italian-American dish. Pasta primavera has everything but the kitchen sink thrown into it, including tomato, broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, snow peas, mushrooms and a ton of other ingredients. Preparing this dish is not for those who have just made their first hamburger. This one takes skill.

And the list of pasta dishes goes on and on. It's a favorite of just about everybody, which explains why there are so many of these dishes available.