Macaroni /

Macaroni is a variety of moderately extended machine-made dry pasta. Macaroni noodles do not contain eggs, and are normally cut in shorter, hollow shapes; however, the term refers not to the shape of the pasta, but to the type of dough from which the noodle is made. Though home machines exist that can make macaroni shapes, macaroni is usually made commercially by large scale extrusion. Macaroni is a borrowing of the Italian maccheroni (plural of maccherone, , meaning "squashed "). Its etymology is debatable. Some think it comes from Italian ammaccare, "to bruise or crush" (referring to the crushing of the wheat to make the noodles), which comes, in turn, from Latin macerare, meaning 1) to soak in liquid, to soften, or 2) to torment, to mortify, to distress (the term also giving us the English macerate), while for others it might be the Arabs who invented macaroni in the Middle Ages. However the academic consensus supports that the word comes from Greek μακαρία (makaria), a kind of barley broth which was served to commemorate the dead. Macaroni is not necessarily associated with the "elbow" shape commonly found in American-style macaroni and cheese. "Elbow macaroni" is also used in