Did you celebrate national meatball day this year? Read on to discover how Italians love their meatballs and get your fix with a simple recipe!

In Italy we call them polpette, a staple dish across the peninsula, cooked in different variations depending where you are. The two main categories are fritte (deep fried) or in umido (braised). Fritte are very common in the north, and are eaten as a fun finger food, tapas style during aperitivo. They are bite size delicacies hard to resist, perfect with a glass of bubbly. In umido are braised, either in a white wine sauce or in tomato salsa. This dish is served as a secondo, the course that comes after primo (usually pasta) and before dolce (dessert).

Spaghetti meatballs as we know them in the US, are actually not that common in Italy. In the southern regions there are some pasta dishes withpolpettine – very small meatballs and tomato sauce, but it is definitely not something Italians consider a staple dish. Its invention can be attributed to the fascinating cultural exchange that occurred between 1881 and 1901 when more than 2.400.000 Italians migrated to the USA. You have to imagine that in those days Italy was a very poor country; people were used to eating from the land and would barely have access to meat. Italian migrants in the new world found plentiful land and an abundance of meat. They basically re-invented their cuisine recalling that of festivities and celebrations – adding more meat, cheese and sauce to dishes. This is how we believe the iconic dish Spaghetti Meatballs was invented. A great example of how cultural exchange and immigrant communities can give birth to beautiful and delicious things.