Pasta. Just the word can make your mouth water. There are so many varieties, each with its own charm: spaghetti, macaroni, ravioli. But today, we are celebrating one specific pasta — tortellini. 

Yes, you heard right, tortellini! Tortellini tends to be pushed out of the spotlight by its more popular cousin, ravioli. Both are pasta filled with mouth-watering stuffing, but tortellini truly deserves more love. 

Tortellini is a ring-shaped pasta, usually filled with ham, white meat, or Parmesan cheese. Top it off with any sauce you like — cheese, cream, pesto, or tomato — and you have a lip-smacking meal made up of perfectly cooked, bite-sized pieces of pasta. Tortellini is one of the signature dishes of the Italian region of Bologna, where it is tradition to serve tortellini in a broth, almost like Italian dumplings. 

Legend has it that the pasta was modeled after the goddess Venus’s navel. When Zeus and Venus arrived at an inn one evening, the innkeeper, mesmerized, peered through the keyhole of their room, but all he saw was her navel. Immediately inspired, he supposedly ran to the kitchen and created tortellini.

Since its creation, the pasta has amassed an avid following. Some are satisfied with savouring the dish, but others have taken their love for the pasta above and beyond. These include the members of the organization called The Learned Order of Tortellini, based in Bologna, Italy and dedicated to preserving traditional tortellini. They wear red and gold hats shaped like tortellini to every meeting and a ribbon around their necks adorned with a gold tortellini pendant. 

Whether you decide to take your love for the meal to the next level, or just enjoy the delicacy every once in a while, today, on National Tortellini Day, dig your fork into the plump pasta and enjoy the unmatched deliciousness of tortellini.