Really the Same? Or An Illusion?

It occurs to me, as I dine on leftover "bisketti" made like that of my childhood, that Everybody Knows that "spaghetti" and "bisketti" are the same thing; the latter's just a "cute" kid's way of saying spaghetti.

You know, I'm not so sure about that.

Spaghetti has long pasta strands that require a bit of coordinated twirling with a fork.

Bisketti has the pasta broken into short bits, and may have been cut even smaller by Mom, Grandma, or in time of desperation, yourself.

Spaghetti has a sauce---one of many possible sauces---ladled in a pool atop the center of a pile of pasta.

Bisketti has a sauce---always red sauce, with meat, unless it's Friday in Lent---mixed in, thoroughly, and if you're really lucky, has had time for the pasta to *absorb* the tomatoey goodness.

Spaghetti has a whole possible range of spiciness.

Bisketti is seasoned, definable as something other than plain tomato sauce, certainly, but not "spicy" in any recognizable sense of heat.

Heck, by those standards, there's less difference between spaghetti and ravioli (restaurant or homemade ravioli, not canned) than there is between spaghetti and bisketti.

I vote that those are two separate dishes, for sure. Bisketti's a comfort food. Spaghetti is an adult dining experience.

Sometimes I want spaghetti. And sometimes nothing will do but good ol' bisketti.