# Difinitive answer to squid ink pasta origin?



## tsuchinoko (Mar 14, 2007)

I have been wondering if anyone knows for a fact where the origin of using squid ink as a pasta sauce is. My boyfriend and i often eat squid ink pasta as a main course or side dish. I am an american student of japanese language, and he is japanese. I first encountered squid ink pasta when eating with a japanese friend of mine. He first had squid ink when eating in japan as a teenager. squid ink sauce is quite popular in Japan, where it is called Ikasumi sauce (ika meaning squid, sumi meaning ink). I always thought ikasumi was a japanese creation, but my boyfriend says (but is not sure) that it is an italian creation that just happened to become more popular in japan that anywhere else. Many of my younger japanese friends also think that ikasumi sauce is a japanese creation. To me, it seems very japanese, but i could be wrong.

Does anyone know where squid ink comes from? is it japan or italy?

BTW, my favorite squid ink sauce brand is one called Oh My! Pasta Ikasumi. It is really good, but geared more for a side dish, since it usually comes in a single serving size package. We sometimes buy 2 or three to use for our dinner sized portion. I like using dried nori (seaweed) as a seasoning, and also sometimes i like to put shrimp in it too.

Just to let you know how popular ikasumi (squid ink) sauce is, in japan they have pizza that uses it as its sauce. Looks like a black pizza. I've never had it, but it sounds amazing.

here's a picture:

http://pizzaware.com/pizzajapan.htm


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Don't really know for sure, but the Italians also have a black rissotto dish, coloured with, yep, you guessed it, squid ink.


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## blade55440 (Sep 9, 2005)

my question is...does squid ink give any kind of definitive flavor over to a dish considering that so little is used due to it's massive coloring properties?


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Very little flavour, perhaps a slight seafood one, but nothing very strong or pronounced.


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## even stephen (Oct 10, 2005)

I am going to go out on a limb and say that the use of squid
ink probably originated in the Mediterranean. Probably on the
coast as a restorative or for medicinal qualities, not unlike a chicken
broth. Slowly it worked its way into more mainstream dishes. My
guess is that missionaries or traders from the Mediterranean brought
this type of cuisine to Japan. As the years passed Japanese cuisine
perfected there own dishes using squid ink and it now seems, because
of the popularity, that it must have originated there. But I still think it
may have originated somewhere in the mediterranean. Anyone else???


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

As well as Italy, some of the Greek islands also use squid ink to flavour rice-based dishes.


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## tsuchinoko (Mar 14, 2007)

hmmm, interesting. this looks like a hard one to answer. 

Hmm, i don't know about the italian dishes, but there is a distinctive flavor to the japanese ones i but. Yeah, its not so pronounced, but it is really good i think.


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## jayme (Sep 5, 2006)

I work part time in a very traditional Italian restaurant- and the chef likes to do a special of "black and white" pasta- the "black" is the regular pasta dough colored with squid ink. He says squid ink has been used in Italian cuisine forever.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

I don;t think it's a _hard_ question to answer as much as it's a question _without_ an answer - or perhaps the wrong question to start with.
It sounds like asking where is the definitive source of using chicken livers in cooking, or beet greens, or putting fish bones in fish stock.
In the past, every bit of every animal or plant that was edible was used. There was no point in throwing away what might be a source of food. So i imagine in every culture where squid are eaten, they figured out something to do with the ink. Maybe in some places it was too valuable as an ink source (sepia ink comes from seppie, squids) so they didn;t bother to eat it, because they could sell it to ink makers. But otherwise, i imagine wherever you find squid you'll find the ink being used. 
Interesting to see the different uses that different food traditions use it for.


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## romanista1127 (Jan 5, 2015)

Hello,

         Ink sauce is from Italy, but, it is very popular in Japan.


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