Everybody loves pasta!

We're pretty sure that pasta is America's favorite dish. For one thing, it's a very diverse food. Unlike, say rice, where there's only a few things you can do with it because it is not as varied in it's styles. With pasta you can have it as a spaghetti, linguine, angel hair, penne, ziti, lasagna and so many more ways. Which of course lends itself to having it hundreds of different ways. Entire cookbooks are written on the many varieties of pasta.

It's National Pasta Day!  A poll found 75% of us eat it at least once a week, including 5% who said every day.  So what's your favorite pasta SHAPE?  Spaghetti is #1 with 33% of the vote, followed by penne and macaroni.

It may be National Pasta Day,  but for 1 in 20 people, that's EVERY day.  5% of Americans say they eat it daily

A few national chains have pasta deals.  Nothing too crazy, but Today.com did a round-up if you want to check it out.  They went with the excellent headline, "Eight Pasta Day Deals to Save a PENNE or Two."

Here are a few more stats on our pasta-eating habits . . .

1.  What's your favorite pasta shape?  Spaghetti is #1 with 33% of the vote.  Then it's penne, 12% . . . macaroni, 11% . . . and tortellini, 7%. You can never go wrong with having spaghetti in the pantry. Of course, it's always a good idea to keep many different pasta types in the house as well. Easy peasy to make, even if you have it plain with a little olive oil and parmesean cheese.

2.  What's the best pasta shape specifically for mac-and-cheese?  Macaroni got the most votes.  But 12% prefer shells . . . 7% prefer corkscrews . . . 6% said bowtie pasta . . . 5% like penne . . . and 5% think rotini is best. Let's be honest, any kind of mac and cheese is delish, and these days it's becoming more and more stylized with hundreds of new and exciting recipes for it. Like lobster or hamburger made to taste like a Big Mac

3.  What's your favorite sauce . . . alfredo, pesto, or spaghetti sauce?  52% said spaghetti sauce, and 44% said alfredo.  Just 4% said pesto is their #1. People stay with what they know, but it's worth getting to know other toppings that are delicious as well. For instance, cacio e' pepe has become a favorite in many restaurants and it's fun to say!

4.  93% of Americans always have at least one box or bag of pasta in the house. Why not? Pasta is still a very economical food to have to buy, so while you're at it buy a big variety to keep in the house and you will never run out of things to eat.

5.  21% of us use a fork and spoon to eat spaghetti.  The spoon is for twirling. If you have ever watched The Godfather or The Sopranos, than you know this is a very old school way of eating spaghetti, plus it's kind of fun.

6.  When you make spaghetti, do you usually break it in half?  50% of us do, mostly because it's easier to fit in the pot.  38% don't . . . 4% said it varies . . . and 8% said they never make spaghetti. Not a fan of breaking it up because you get less twirling action that way. Leave it alone and enjoy the twirl!

7.  And finally:  Only 3% of us never eat pasta.  75% have it at least once a week. That means 97% of eat pasta! That's probably one of the biggest numbers for any food. Other than bread, there is probably nothing we eat more of in the course of our lives. Long Live Pasta!!