French leader fed a starter of Italian pasta (8)

I believe the answer is:

macaroni

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'pasta' is the definition.
(macaroni is a kind of pasta)

'french leader fed a starter of italian' is the wordplay.
'french leader' becomes 'macron' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'fed' indicates putting letters inside (one word is \'fed\' to another).
'starter of' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'italian' is 'i'.
'macron' enclosing 'a' is 'macaron'.
'macaron'+'i'='MACARONI'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for macaroni that I've seen before include "A Minorca kind of pasta" , "Omani car (anag)" , "Tubular pasta" , "penguin?" , "Italian fare" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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