Jacqueline Sauve, age 12, of Ville Ile Perrot, Quebec, Canada, for her question:

 Who invented spaghetti?

Italians have been creating spaghetti dishes since the 1300s and they introduced them to Europe and America. But historians tell us that they did not invent the original recipe. The credit for this goes to the Chinese, who also invented paper and fireworks and the magnetic compass. Chinese cooks have been using spaghetti type paste to make their noodles for so many centuries that nobody remembers how or when it all began. The popular recipe was taken to Italy, probably in the 14th century.

Some people say that Marco Polo brought it around 1295, from his fabulous travels in China. But though he later wrote a very detailed account of everything he did there, he made no mention of the marvelous recipe. He established a route that many travelers followed during the next century. Historians suspect that the original Chinese recipe was taken to Italy some time in the 1300s, either by returning traders or missionaries.