A small round portion of ground meat mixed with spices and other ingredients, usually baked or fried.
From 'meat' (Old English 'mete') combined with 'ball' (Old Norse 'bollr'). The compound word emerged in the 19th century as Swedish and Italian immigrants brought their traditional meat dishes to America.
Meatballs became an iconic 'fusion' food because Italian-American cooks adapted their nonna's recipes using cheaper ground meat instead of whole cuts, making their traditional dishes affordable for working families in the early 1900s.
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