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Spaghetti is a long, thin form of pasta. It is versatile, popular, and available throughout the Western world. Spaghetti is the plural form of the Italian word spaghetto, which is a diminutive of "spago," meaning "thin string" or "twine". The word "spaghetti" can be literally translated as "little strings."

Most spaghetti sold and consumed is commercially prepared, then dried. Spaghetti is cooked by boiling the pasta in water until soft. In Sicily, the accepted method for determining how well cooked the noodles are, is to throw a cluster against the wall. Once the first cluster sticks, the pasta is ready for consumption. The consistency or texture of spaghetti changes as it is cooked. The most popular consistency is al dente which is translated from the Italian as "to the tooth"; that is soft but with texture, sometimes even with bite in the center. Others prefer their spaghetti fully cooked, which gives it a much softer consistency. The best dried spaghetti is made from durum wheat semolina. Fresh spaghetti should be prepared with grade '00' flour. Inferior spaghetti is often found produced with other kinds of flour, especially outside Italy.

An emblem of Italian cuisine, spaghetti is frequently served in tomato sauce, which may contain various herbs (especially oregano and basil), olive oil, meat, or vegetables. Other toppings include any of several hard cheeses, such as Pecorino Romano, Parmesan or Asiago. Outside Italy it is often served with meatballs, although that is not a typical Italian recipe.

Eating spaghetti with a fork and a spoon is perfectly polite in parts of the United States, although the view on this varies both there and in most other cultures. Many other cultures eat it with just a fork like most other Continental dishes. In Asia, many people use chopsticks as a form of eating rather than forks, as chopsticks are customary in most Asian countries.

Another method of eating spaghetti, which is the traditional way in Italy, is to use just a fork and twist it so that the spaghetti wraps around the fork.

Carbonara is a traditional Italian pasta sauce. Its name comes from carbone, which is Italian for coal, and many believe the dish derives its name because it was popular among charcoal makers. Others believe, however, that the dish is called carbonara simply because of the black, freshly milled pepper that is used.

The original Roman recipe is made from eggs, parmigiano reggiano, pecorino romano, guanciale (unsmoked pig cheeks), black pepper, and either strutto, olive oil or butter. Cream is not an ingredient in the original recipe, and is not generally used with pasta in central Italy.

The Anglo-American carbonara recipe is made from cream, eggs, parmesan cheese (sometimes with pecorino romano cheese), and pancetta (or some other type of bacon). Some American recipes add salt, pepper (white or black), and/or garlic to taste; with peas added for color.

In both versions of the recipe, the eggs are added to the sauce raw, and cook with the heat of the pasta itself.

Pasta comes in many different shapes and sizes. There are simple string-shaped pasta like spaghetti and vermicelli, ribbon-shaped ones like fettuccine and linguine, short tubes like elbow macaroni and penne, large sheets like lasagna, and hollow pasta stuffed with filling, like ravioli, manicotti, and tortellini.

The basic ingredients are usually the same; the shape and characteristics of each variety's surface makes it better suited for certain kinds of sauce.