"About the food (...) people here prefer to avoid complications and not having well-equipped kitchens, using two resources: first of all macaroni, a kind of cooked pasta thin flour, soft and well worked, which is shaped in different shapes; everywhere you can buy any kind for little money. They are usually cooked in plain water, and the grated cheese greases the dish and at the same time seasoned it.

At almost all the corners of the main streets are the fry-makers with their pans filled with boiling oil, ready to prepare on their feet, especially on the days of skinny, fried fish and pancakes according to the requests of passers-by. They sell at full blast, and there are thousands of them who go with the necessities for lunch or dinner wrapped in a shred of paper."

J. W. GOETHE, May 29th, 1787