Origins of Spaghetti

Chinese noodles pre-date Italian pasta, and traders may have introduced the food to the west. Historically, people in Italy ate pasta in the form of gnocchi-like dumplings – pasta fresca eaten as soon as it was prepared. It has been asserted that pasta was first worked to long, thin forms in Southern Italy around the 12th Century. The popularity of pasta spread to the whole of Italy after the establishment of pasta factories in the 19th century, enabling the mass production of pasta for the Italian market. Pasta is commonly associated with Italy.
In the United States around the end of the 1800s, spaghetti was offered in restaurants as Spaghetti Italienne (which likely consisted of extremely soggy noodles and a tomato sauce diluted with broth) and it wasn't until decades later that it came to be prepared with garlic or peppers. Canned spaghetti, kits for making spaghetti, and spaghetti with meatballs became popular, and the dish has become a staple in that country.