Strozzapreti

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Strozzapreti is the name of a variety of regional Italian specialties.

[One] is a kind of pasta which is laid out flat in sheets then twisted to look like a rolled towel; due to this method of production, each piece of the pasta is markedly non-uniform, unlike spaghetti or macaroni. The pasta originates from the Italian region Romagna.

[Another version] from Florence consists of small balls of a mixture of spinach or chard, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, flour and seasonings, baked in an oven.

[Strozzapreti] from Emilia are made from flour, water, Parmesan cheese, and egg whites beaten together.

The name is Italian for "priest choker"; there are several legends to explain the origin of the name. One is that gluttonous priests were so enthralled by the savory pasta that they ate too quickly and choked themselves, sometimes to death. Another explanation involves the azdora [the housewife in Romagna], who ‘chokes’ the dough strips to make the strozzapreti: "... in that particular moment you would presume that the azdora would express such a rage (perhaps triggered by the misery and difficulties of her life) to be able to strangle a priest!" Another legend goes that wives would customarily make the pasta for priests, and their husbands would be angered enough by the venal priests eating their wives' food to wish the priests would choke as they stuffed their faces with it.