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The Patents Behind Pasta Shapes - Smithsonian
When you sit down to a bowl, be it gnocchi or Kraft macaroni, consider the design work and innovation that have gone into it
What shape do you think of when you hear the word pasta? Macaroni. Ribbons and strands. Bowties. Tubes. Stuffed pockets. The Italians invented over 1,300 shapes of pasta, according to food scholar Oretta Zanini De Vita’s Encyclopedia of Pasta. Of course, like nonna’s dearest grandchild, there are multiple names for each shape. For example, cavatelli, meaning “little hollows” in Italian—and looking like little hot dog buns—goes by 28 different names depending on the region and town where you’re eating it.
Different shapes of pastas serve different purposes. They pair with an array of sauces: thicker sauces such as bolognese for tagliatelle, or flat ribbons of pasta; and lighter sauces such as lemon butter herb with farfalline, a small, rounded version of the traditional bowtie pasta. Rigatoni are short tubes of pasta with a ridged exterior—a shape great for chunky sauces that can fall into the ridges and the center of the tubes. And what’s the perfect pasta pairing for homemade pesto? Trofie. Herbs, oil and cheese cling to the crevices of the short, thin, twisted noodle. Then, of course, large pasta shells and pocket pastas, such as tortellini, serve a specific function, as a vessel for their cheese or meat-based filling.
When you sit down to a bowl, be it gnocchi or Kraft macaroni, consider the design work and innovation that have gone into it
What shape do you think of when you hear the word pasta? Macaroni. Ribbons and strands. Bowties. Tubes. Stuffed pockets. The Italians invented over 1,300 shapes of pasta, according to food scholar Oretta Zanini De Vita’s Encyclopedia of Pasta. Of course, like nonna’s dearest grandchild, there are multiple names for each shape. For example, cavatelli, meaning “little hollows” in Italian—and looking like little hot dog buns—goes by 28 different names depending on the region and town where you’re eating it.
Different shapes of pastas serve different purposes. They pair with an array of sauces: thicker sauces such as bolognese for tagliatelle, or flat ribbons of pasta; and lighter sauces such as lemon butter herb with farfalline, a small, rounded version of the traditional bowtie pasta. Rigatoni are short tubes of pasta with a ridged exterior—a shape great for chunky sauces that can fall into the ridges and the center of the tubes. And what’s the perfect pasta pairing for homemade pesto? Trofie. Herbs, oil and cheese cling to the crevices of the short, thin, twisted noodle. Then, of course, large pasta shells and pocket pastas, such as tortellini, serve a specific function, as a vessel for their cheese or meat-based filling.