[HN Gopher] The Invention of a New Pasta Shape
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       The Invention of a New Pasta Shape
        
       Author : dgellow
       Score  : 310 points
       Date   : 2021-03-20 09:06 UTC (13 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (kottke.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (kottke.org)
        
       | foofoo55 wrote:
       | Ew. Looks like a sea slug.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_slug#/media/File:Glossodor...
        
         | accrual wrote:
         | Unsurprisingly the sea slug uses its ruffles for the same
         | purpose of increasing surface area [0], albeit for
         | photosynthesis instead of sauce carrying:
         | 
         | > This slug, like other Sacoglossa uses kleptoplasty, a process
         | in which the slug absorbs chloroplasts from the algae it eats,
         | and uses "stolen" cells to photosynthesize sugars. The ruffles
         | of the lettuce sea slug increase the slug's surface area,
         | allowing the cells to absorb more light.
         | 
         | [0]
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_slug#Diversity_in_sea_slug...
        
         | dumbfoundded wrote:
         | Do you also think spaghetti looks like worms?
        
           | Iwan-Zotow wrote:
           | Where do you think vermi in vermichelli came from?
        
           | troymc wrote:
           | Vermicelli translates loosely to "little worms."
        
           | africanboy wrote:
           | they do not, because that's not what their name means
           | 
           | spaghetti = little strings
           | 
           | vermicelli = tiny worms
        
         | kortex wrote:
         | Not gonna lie, it looks delicious but has kind of an H.R. Giger
         | vibe.
         | 
         | The pasta. Not the sea slug. Though all sea slugs looks like
         | they were made during evolution's goth phase.
        
         | troymc wrote:
         | It looks like waterfalls, hence the name: cascatelli.
        
       | jeffgreco wrote:
       | Hot take: I prefer eating pasta to eating sauce. A bit of sauce,
       | sure, but "maximum saucibility" makes me think you should just
       | grab a spoon and eat sauce.
        
         | W4ldi wrote:
         | I think it has more to do with the pasta taking in a lot of
         | sauce, rather then it holding a lot of sauce. To make a good
         | Italian pasta dish: Take out the pasta a bit earlier out of the
         | water and poor it into your sauce. The pasta will take in some
         | sauce and get al-dente in the sauce. The pasta shouldn't bath
         | in sauce but just be enough to give your pasta lots of flavor.
         | Don't wash your pasta after cooking, because that will close
         | its pores and hinder it from taking in sauce.
        
         | redisman wrote:
         | I prefer the oily pasta "sauces" like pesto or butter and
         | herbs. I think those still benefit from sticking more fat to
         | them
        
       | faeyanpiraat wrote:
       | It actually matters what shape of pasta you use for which food.
       | 
       | But even if it is technically better than the traditional models
       | I think it has a low chance of going widespread enough to become
       | the go-to pasta for any specific sauce though.
        
       | weinzierl wrote:
       | Talking pasta shapes you can't get around Legendre's seminal
       | _Pasta by Design_. It is _the_ reference book when it comes to
       | the mathematical analysis of your favourite noodle form.
       | 
       | https://www.amazon.com/Pasta-Design-George-L-Legendre/dp/050...
       | 
       | It even has the invention of a new (back then) pasta shape. Here
       | is what the New York Times has to say about it:
       | 
       |  _" Mr. Legendre has even designed a new shape -- ioli, named for
       | his baby daughter -- which looks like a spiral wrapped around
       | itself, a tubelike Mobius strip."_
       | 
       | https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/science/pasta-inspires-sc...
        
       | whistlecow wrote:
       | When will YC fund this?
        
       | jonplackett wrote:
       | So I LOVE the idea of this
       | 
       | But is it just me, or does it look a bit like eating a bowl of
       | caterpillars?
        
       | drdeadringer wrote:
       | To me the shape resembles a part used on railroad tracks,
       | specifically the improved flair.
        
       | JayGuerette wrote:
       | Looks like a variation of lanterne:
       | https://www.alamy.com/lanterne-pasta-image2466309.html
        
       | causality0 wrote:
       | I can see that easily becoming my number two favorite pasta
       | shape. I'm afraid, however, that tortellini must remain on top
       | for me.
        
       | rini17 wrote:
       | They immediately reminded me of tripes. We have a dish of tripes
       | with paprika-cream sauce with pasta, usually gnocchi is used but
       | these cascatelli would be interesting combination.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | danielovichdk wrote:
       | Would have been a lot more fun if someone did a new pizza shape
        
         | FalconSensei wrote:
         | Where I used to live, there was a pizzeria that did a few
         | things, like Pizza Pie [0], pizza with 'volcanic crust' [1][2],
         | and they seem to be doing a pizza fondue [3] now
         | 
         | [0] https://www.instagram.com/p/wsDdAdM0Nx/
         | 
         | [1] https://media-
         | cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/14/e4/10/50/...
         | 
         | [2] https://media-
         | cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/14/e4/10/6f/...
         | 
         | [3] https://www.instagram.com/p/BzR5Q-QhDXW/
        
       | clifdweller wrote:
       | One of their advertising points is using right angles and varying
       | thicknesses to produce different textures... so while parts will
       | be aldente others mushy I guess. Sounds a lot like marketing
       | attempting to pass off a bad feature as a positive
        
         | 8fGTBjZxBcHq wrote:
         | "al dente" isn't really a quality _part_ of a piece of pasta
         | can have. If the whole thing is al dente... that's just
         | undercooked.
         | 
         | The entire appeal of cooking it that way is having the variance
         | in texture in the same piece. It absolutely makes sense to
         | design a pasta shape that optimizes for that. In fact a lot of
         | pasta shapes already do, whether or not it was intentional.
        
           | ant6n wrote:
           | I thought the point of cooking pasta al dente is that it
           | doesnt get mushy when combined with sauce where it continues
           | to cook a bit longer.
        
             | 8fGTBjZxBcHq wrote:
             | Not really. I mean you want to cook it differently and
             | slightly less if you're going to finish it in the sauce but
             | that's a different thing.
             | 
             | Al dente is specifically undercooking it a bit because you
             | prefer that texture over the fully cooked texture. If you
             | pull it a little early then let it fully finish in the
             | sauce it's not what I would consider al dente.
        
               | africanboy wrote:
               | as an Italian, according to my personal understanding,
               | "al dente" means the point where pasta is cooked but not
               | yet overcooked (it starts becoming softer).
               | 
               | The meaning of cooked and overcooked depends a lot on
               | personal taste, but generally al dente it's when it's
               | still elastic but not mushy, like if you apply pressure
               | with the border of a fork, it goes back to the original
               | shape when you relieve the pressure and doesn't fall
               | apart.
               | 
               | But that's simply the help visualize it and it's not even
               | applicable to all kinds of pasta, practically we taste
               | the pasta while it's still cooking and decide if it's all
               | dente or not based on our experience.
               | 
               | Usually when pasta cooked the exact amount of time
               | specified on the package it should be "al dente", but you
               | shouldn't trust it and start tasting it a couple of
               | minutes before that point.
               | 
               | Anyway not all pasta makes sense al dente, fresh pasta or
               | stuffed pasta like ravioli or tortellini for example
               | cannot (and shouldn't) be cooked al dente.
        
               | pvg wrote:
               | _and start tasting it a couple of minutes before that
               | point_
               | 
               | As a lazy person, I continue to be disappointed pasta
               | scientists and designers have done little to make that
               | part easier and less work.
        
               | gpderetta wrote:
               | Eh it is just an excuse to snack while cooking.
        
               | Treblemaker wrote:
               | Had he started later in the day, Piet Hein might have
               | written,                 There's an art of knowing when
               | Never try to guess       Cook until it's soft and then
               | Ninety seconds less
        
               | bobthepanda wrote:
               | Easier ways of cooking pasta probably run into other
               | issues. If you're boiling the pasta it's not hard to be
               | there and pick a piece up, and really you can boil pasta
               | in any vessel.
               | 
               | It's different, from, say, a rice cooker, where all rice
               | more or less gets cooked the same way with varying times,
               | you can definitely screw up cooking rice in a pot, and
               | you don't, say, need to reserve rice water for anything.
               | Also rice cookers keep rice warm for hours on end in a
               | manner that doesn't detract from the taste or dry it out,
               | but I don't know that that would work for pasta.
        
               | pvg wrote:
               | _If you're boiling the pasta it's not hard to be there
               | and pick a piece up_
               | 
               | You say this but we're deep in a thread with terms like
               | 'saucibility'. Surely if pasta science can address a
               | problem that's also neatly solved by simply adding more
               | sauce, it can spare a few mighty braincells on 'standing
               | by a pot for two minutes frantically fishing out and
               | tasting hot undercooked noodles'. Maybe every packet of
               | pasta can come with a couple of noodles on teabag
               | strings.
        
               | africanboy wrote:
               | restaurants use pasta cookers[1], they use brands of
               | pasta that they already know and don't need to taste it
               | (also because it's a system that doesn't scale) they
               | already know the cooking time.
               | 
               | Of course is not a science, sometimes it's not gonna be
               | perfect, but on average it is
               | 
               | consumer models also exist, but are quite expensive.
               | 
               | My girlfriend bought a Cookeo[2] (it's an electric multi-
               | cooker for different kinds of food, including pasta) and
               | after a few failed attempts we have been happy of the
               | results. It's quite cheap.
               | 
               | p.s. tasting pasta while cooking it at home is kind of a
               | ritual here in Italy
               | 
               | [1] http://ifea.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Italgi-
               | pasta-c...
               | 
               | [2] https://www.moulinex.it/COTTURA/Cookeo/c/Cookeo
        
               | mod wrote:
               | I think you guys agree, because I (mostly) agree with
               | both of you.
               | 
               | You cook the pasta al dente on purpose, to avoid
               | mushiness with the sauce later. But the finished product
               | isn't al dente--it was a temporary state.
               | 
               | I didn't realize anyone preferred the texture and would
               | preserve it, but that makes sense.
        
         | accrual wrote:
         | Here are the rest of the points for anyone who doesn't make it
         | to the product page:
         | 
         | - Longer cut than most short shapes provides more fork
         | insertion points, improves forkability
         | 
         | - Bucatini half-tube + ruffles create a "sauce trough" for max
         | sauceability
         | 
         | - Bronze die extrusion creates a rougher surface, further
         | boosting sauceability
         | 
         | - Right angles (rare in pasta shapes) resist bite force from
         | all directions, maximize toothsinkability
         | 
         | - Slight variations in thickness + ruffles = multiple textures
         | in each bite (which sensory scientists call "dynamic contrast")
        
           | vanderZwan wrote:
           | > _forkability_
           | 
           | > _sauceability_
           | 
           | > _toothsinkability_
           | 
           | Today I learned that that suffixal semantic satiability
           | exists
           | 
           | [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_satiation
        
         | blackoil wrote:
         | I like my veggies in curry to be cut in uneven sizes because of
         | this reason. Some pieces are still a little hard and crunchy,
         | some are soft, gravy like.
        
           | jerf wrote:
           | I think this is an underexplored idea. I often do it with
           | onions, both putting some in early and putting some in very
           | late. It's a cheap way to get "two" vegetables in your stir
           | fry or chili or something for the effort of one.
        
             | bobsil1 wrote:
             | Training set / test set
        
               | vanderZwan wrote:
               | Overfitting is when you optimize all ingredients except
               | for sugar and salt away
        
             | ggus wrote:
             | I do it with potatoes when roasting them. I cut irregular
             | wedges so all pieces will have a crispy pointy bit and a
             | thicker mushier end.
        
             | readflaggedcomm wrote:
             | It's common to see an ingredient "divided"* in recipes and
             | used at different times. Though I wonder if there's a name
             | for this specific technique. I do it too with garlic or
             | bell peppers.
             | 
             | * https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-does-divided-mean-in-
             | a-re...
        
               | ketzo wrote:
               | It's amazing with garlic! I know it's not for everyone,
               | but I actually love the "sharp" taste of fresh, rawer
               | garlic.
        
             | bbarnett wrote:
             | One time I was cooking pasta, to mix with some left over,
             | home made meat sauce in the fridge.
             | 
             | After I started the pasta, I realised there was no enough
             | sauce. So I added fresh crushed tomatoes, which had only
             | enough time to warm up, and not really cook much with the
             | existing sauce.
             | 
             | I discovered that tomato having two flavours in the sauce,
             | lets both flavours complement each other.
             | 
             | It seems like there are many possibilities, with more and
             | less cooked things together.
        
         | slim wrote:
         | came here to say that the thikness of those junctions would
         | make the cooking uneven
        
       | MPSimmons wrote:
       | The year is 2045. 35 percent of humanity's GDP is invested in
       | improving pasta technology. The current record-setting pasta is
       | being extruded through a bronze die which had been cast into a
       | void produced by activated charcoal formed around transformer-
       | derived non-euclidean topologies. A one-quarter-inch pasta has
       | three square miles of surface area.
        
         | geoduck14 wrote:
         | So you are joking... but 3d printing allows us to manufacture
         | new and different parts because 3d printing is ADDITIVE and
         | "milling" is REDUCTIVE (removing?).
         | 
         | There is one technique where you have gell filled with aluminum
         | particles. You then use lasers to heat up specific areas. It
         | melts/fuses the aluminum and burns off the gell. In the end you
         | have cast aluminum in any shape that is as hard as if you had
         | milled it from a solid block.
        
           | volume wrote:
           | Maybe we'll have custom 3d printed pasta that matches your
           | tooth alignment to fully max out toothability.
           | 
           | It will be called "protesi" - Italian for "dentures".
        
           | terramex wrote:
           | > "milling" is REDUCTIVE (removing?)
           | 
           | FYI, the word you are looking for is "subtractive"
           | 
           | https://formlabs.com/eu/blog/additive-manufacturing-vs-
           | subtr...
        
         | fisherjeff wrote:
         | Not usually a sci-fi fan but this is a plot line I can get
         | behind
        
         | Scene_Cast2 wrote:
         | If you swap "pasta" with "keyboards", you'll get 2021 :D
         | 
         | Just the other day, I saw a prototype of a maglev-mounted
         | keyboard. Vibration dampening is the trend these days, and
         | going over the top (with questionable objective returns) is
         | rather common.
        
           | gumby wrote:
           | But then how could it click?
        
             | [deleted]
        
         | gnicholas wrote:
         | > _35 percent of humanity 's GDP is invested in improving pasta
         | technology._
         | 
         | The remainder of the GDP is spent on crypto-mining.
        
         | jahewson wrote:
         | Presumably GPT-23 was put in charge of the world economy and
         | told to maximise the utilization of open sauce.
        
           | jeffrallen wrote:
           | Great pasta transformer.
        
         | adverbly wrote:
         | s/pasta/battery/g
        
         | kleer001 wrote:
         | Pasta foam? Sounds like it would fall apart. What's it made of?
         | How would you cook it? Sounds like AeroGel. Does it have
         | aerospace applications?
        
         | mindcrime wrote:
         | BREAKING NEWS
         | 
         | Massive Fire Raging at Pasta Factory in San Bixenino
         | 
         | March 20, 2045
         | 
         | A massive fire is raging out of control at the MegaFoodGrpInc
         | Pasta factory on Foodstuffs Avenue this evening. Fire
         | department officials report being hampered by the presence of
         | eldritch inter-dimensional entities, as well as water supply
         | problems related to non-functional fire hydrants in the area.
         | 
         | San Bixenino FD spokesbot XJa32l/14 reports that mutual aid has
         | been called in from all over California, and fire-fighting
         | operations are now in a defensive mode.
         | 
         | /14 adds "These new exotic materials they are using in
         | foodstuff remodulation today burn longer and hotter than ever
         | before. We've cautioned them about buying supplies from
         | Nyarlathotep before, but they just don't listen."
         | 
         | No bot or firefighter injuries have been reported so far.
        
         | kibwen wrote:
         | Extrusion is soooo 2032. Here in 2045 we direct nanobots to
         | assemble our 3D-fractal pasta to atomic precision. Look for it
         | under the brand name FractalDente(tm).
        
           | m463 wrote:
           | Do we still throw it against the wall to see when it's done?
           | 
           | Or will it make the wall collapse to a point?
        
             | dunefox wrote:
             | It's done when it travels back in time exactly 13 seconds.
        
           | joezydeco wrote:
           | Mandelbrotini(tm)
        
           | afandian wrote:
           | Not much progress has been made on precise cooking
           | instructions though. The more accurately the cooking time is
           | measured, the longer it takes.
        
             | Wistar wrote:
             | Asympastote.
        
             | [deleted]
        
           | bigmattystyles wrote:
           | Sounds like you could sell it as an NFT!
        
           | iancmceachern wrote:
           | And ravioli/tortellini are no longer filled, but grown whole.
        
           | powvans wrote:
           | Klein bottle shaped pastas can be constructed and blur the
           | distinction between extruded noodles and filled pastas.
           | 
           | Getting hungry thinking about it.
        
             | jeffrallen wrote:
             | Paging @CliffStoll on aisle Klein.
        
         | trhway wrote:
         | Nah! i'll stick to the old and tried - pasta extruded by the
         | black hole event horizon.
        
           | scollet wrote:
           | What difference is there between people and pasta in the eye
           | of a black hole?
        
         | i_have_an_idea wrote:
         | replace GDP with electricity and pasta with bitcoin and you'll
         | be pretty close
        
         | nom wrote:
         | Wait until they manage to fabricate Gabriel's Horn [0] pasta, a
         | shape with finite volume but infinite surface area. Pour a cup
         | of pasta sauce in there and you are set.
         | 
         | Might take an new universe and infinitely thin sauce to do it
         | though.
         | 
         | 0: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel%27s_Horn
        
         | baxtr wrote:
         | I'm expecting to see a website called "this pasta does not
         | exist" anytime soon.
         | 
         | It's a shame that we have such powerful AI (and of course
         | blockchain) tech which hasn't been applied to pasta yet!
        
         | bombela wrote:
         | In 2045, 3% of the world population is still using retarded
         | units. The world; perhaps; never changes.
        
         | marcodiego wrote:
         | Nothing even close to jovian french fries:
         | https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/12/scienceshot-french-f...
        
         | mbg721 wrote:
         | The most popular pasta meme, "Il Spaghettio", currently holds
         | three of the Internet's 8000 congressional seats, and instances
         | of it are commonly made from synthetic cruelty-free wheat,
         | mainly for the purpose of worship.
        
           | _jal wrote:
           | In 2054, multiple scandals erupted over influence from at
           | least two clandestine NFT-holding polls. Improper influence
           | led to reforms starting with RFC 451323, which first
           | described the Memetic Transparency Protocol.
        
           | hedora wrote:
           | Of course, the FSM holds the other 7997 seats, due to the
           | rise of post-apocalyptic religious zealotry, combined with
           | the use of directed microwave energy to systematically purge
           | the old guard.
           | 
           | They said I was crazy when I stocked my panic room with 3d
           | print stock (steel, of course) and emp-hardened colander
           | designs. FOOLS! Who's crazy now?
        
         | redisman wrote:
         | I bet some kinda 3D printed dough mesh would be the most
         | saucable shape
        
       | londons_explore wrote:
       | Do they make CAD files available so you can mill your own bronze
       | die and make it at home?
        
         | SV_BubbleTime wrote:
         | I think maybe skip a step and just 3D print the pasta? Because
         | what I want are one way check valves that let sauce in and keep
         | it there.
        
       | carols10cents wrote:
       | The best pasta shape is medium shells, but I just bought a 5 lb
       | bag of cascatelli so we'll see.
        
       | jiofih wrote:
       | The link to Instagram re. the development of the past shape goes
       | to a sports media account.
        
       | astatine wrote:
       | This is what the world needs, now more than ever - the eccentric
       | inventor tilting at windmills. And the criteria for a good pasta
       | looks perfect! Who can argue with toothsinkability?
        
       | CarVac wrote:
       | Looks like good competition for radiatori.
        
       | danso wrote:
       | Planet Money just did a 25 minute podcast with the inventor on
       | the business side of making the pasta, including getting the
       | patent, manufacturing the die, and finding a pasta maker who
       | would agree to produce a limited run:
       | 
       | https://www.npr.org/2021/03/19/979274990/the-new-shape-of-pa...
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | marshmallow_12 wrote:
       | i don't even like pasta
        
       | NoOneNew wrote:
       | For whatever reason, this reminds me of that guy that salted a
       | steak all weird and people lost their minds. This was right after
       | Trump was elected and there were riots... general chaos in the
       | world. Yet, some dude salting a steak egregiously was the big
       | thing for a while.
       | 
       | I want this pasta shape to blow up just the same. I mean hell,
       | spending 3 years on a new product is interesting and I hope the
       | folks involved gain some sort of fulfillment from this. I won't
       | lie though, the absurdity is what I want to see.
       | 
       | Maybe this says something about the human condition? To ignore
       | chaos we try to find order or control somewhere, anywhere. Salt a
       | steak unnecessarily, buy tons of toilet paper, redefine ownership
       | with NFT and make a brand new pasta shape... because real
       | problems are hard to deal with.
        
         | setr wrote:
         | I mean, it wasn't _that_ much chaos, for most people. If you're
         | in the middle of a riot, sure, but otherwise? Trump's election
         | was dramatic but it was hardly show stopping.
        
           | 8fGTBjZxBcHq wrote:
           | Ended up stopping the show pretty hard for half a million
           | people.
        
             | samatman wrote:
             | I always wonder on what basis people conclude that the USA
             | would have better COVID numbers than Europe if the
             | Democrats had been in charge of the federal government.
             | 
             | I mean, we have better COVID numbers than Europe already.
             | But I guess I mean better than that.
        
           | NoOneNew wrote:
           | Regarding the general sentiment at the time. For the most
           | part, if the average person never watched the news, they
           | wouldn't know who was president at a given time. Hell, in the
           | past 2 months, following CNN, it's hard to tell if Trump
           | isn't still president. They talk about him so much and spin
           | it that he still has so much influence, I have to consciously
           | remember Biden is president.
        
         | fmajid wrote:
         | "The invention of a new dish does more for the happiness of
         | mankind than the discovery of a new star" -- Brillat-Savarin
        
           | cbanek wrote:
           | As an astronomer, I'm definitely going to remember and use
           | this quote. <3
        
       | pugworthy wrote:
       | With a well defined sauce, fork, and tooth model, generating new
       | pasta shapes via genetic algorithms isn't such a crazy idea I
       | suppose.
        
         | CivBase wrote:
         | _This_ is why we need AI. Look out adtech here comes big pasta.
        
       | riffraff wrote:
       | unless I see numbers, I'm not buying the "maximum sauceability".
       | 
       | This feels like an ad, I'm not sure why it's on the homepage.
        
         | nickkell wrote:
         | Here's some numbers for you: 2, 10, 17, 3.14. Satisfied?
        
           | yunruse wrote:
           | That's Numberwang!
        
             | geoduck14 wrote:
             | This is the 2nd Numberwang reference this week!
        
               | redisman wrote:
               | Mitchell and Webb trying to viral market their decade old
               | shows?
        
       | SavantIdiot wrote:
       | He didn't account for "storability": what happens 1) as the pasta
       | sits in the collander awaiting saucification, and 2) what happens
       | after a few days in the fridge.
       | 
       | Structural integrity is important for this condition, so I think
       | the ruffles may help, but I think the main shape needs more
       | corrugation to hold up under compression.
        
         | clintonb wrote:
         | 1. Time from colander to sauce is under a minute for me. How
         | long is it for you that this matters?
         | 
         | 2. Make exactly the amount of pasta you need for the meal. No
         | leftovers to store.
        
       | Pamar wrote:
       | Italian expat here.
       | 
       | Probably not many know of Marille (it's been basically forgotten
       | by Italians, too), the first example - the first that I know of,
       | at least - of "pasta shape deliberately _designed_ to hold more
       | sauce ".
       | 
       | It was a sort of celebrity stunt by Voiello (quite a name in
       | Italian Pasta, based in Neaples) who hired Giugiaro Design to
       | create a new pasta type:
       | https://www.italdesign.it/project/marille/
       | 
       | [Sadly, it did not work so well in the market: the point where
       | the three "folds" met tended to remain undercooked, being way
       | more thick than the rest].
        
         | snissn wrote:
         | This looks so cool. I notice that the pasta is symmetric in the
         | "z" index dimension. As if it were a cylinder and the z was
         | along the length of the cylinder. I think each pasta could be
         | cut such that there is an arc making the thicker folds less
         | long in that z direction that could make it cook more evenly! I
         | could try to draw something if this needs further
         | clarification. Manufacturing this might add many issues
         | however!
        
           | Pamar wrote:
           | In the end it was a commercial flop - albeit not critical:
           | both Voiello and Giugiaro Design are still thriving in their
           | respective fields.
           | 
           | I know someone who was working for Giugiaro at the time and
           | allegedly the design studio had piles of that stuff lying
           | around for whoever wanted to take home... -\\_(tsu)_/-
        
       | kortex wrote:
       | I always thought that the "fun-shapes" macaroni had better mouth-
       | feel than plain elbows. Apparently that is due to the right-
       | angles and the term-of-art is "Toothsinkability".
       | 
       | Radiatore are currently my reigning favorite, especially for mac
       | and cheese. This looks like it has less overall surface-area-to-
       | volume than radiatore, but is better for holding thicker sauces
       | vs the thin fin gaps in radiatore.
        
         | chiph wrote:
         | I've switched to fusilli from elbows for mac & cheese because
         | it holds more sauce. But radiatore looks good for that too -
         | I'll have to try and find some in my area.
        
       | aimor wrote:
       | This is neat! It kind of looks like a ziploc.
       | 
       | https://cockeyed.com/science/eyeclops/eyeclops_ziplock.shtml
        
         | chrisfrantz wrote:
         | That was fascinating, thanks.
        
       | africanboy wrote:
       | Has anybody already mentioned "reginette" here?
       | 
       | https://pastidea.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/762-TRAFILA-...
        
       | vogg wrote:
       | This is such a waste of brain power
        
       | em-bee wrote:
       | one thing i keep wondering is that while we have several
       | different pasta shapes (and invent new ones) there is pretty much
       | only one pasta flavour (with a few minor variations)
       | 
       | meanwhile in china, most noodles there have the same spaghetti
       | like shape, but they come in many different flavours, rice,
       | wheat, potato, sweet potato, you name it
       | 
       | i am wondering why that is...
        
         | ant6n wrote:
         | Chinese noodles also come in many shapes. When it comes to food
         | and China compared to other cultures, one can always point out
         | how China is like a continent and has a long culture. It's like
         | several times the size and age of many other places.
        
       | antiterra wrote:
       | Looks interesting but, I'd guess, less fun to eat than
       | fisarmoniche, which was designed 600 years ago.
        
         | 11thEarlOfMar wrote:
         | Yes, it looks like they just dissected the fisarmoniche into
         | thirds:
         | 
         | https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-fisarmoniche-pasta-close-u...
        
           | geofft wrote:
           | Are those the same as the more common radiatori, or are my
           | eyes just not seeing a difference? (Maybe the fisarmoniche
           | are bigger?)
        
             | mrow84 wrote:
             | The fisarmoniche have a wiggle in the fins, whereas the
             | radiatori don't.
        
         | ralusek wrote:
         | Which is in turn less fun to eat than SpongeBob macaroni.
        
       | ubercow13 wrote:
       | If you eat pasta with a spoon, you don't have to worry about
       | getting enough sauce. And you also won't have the pasta fall off
       | your fork because you didn't poke it hard enough. Just be aware
       | that you may look uncultured.
        
       | Alex3917 wrote:
       | > Sauceability, Forkability, Toothsinkability
       | 
       | I like how even pasta creators argue about which ilities are most
       | important.
        
       | forrestthewoods wrote:
       | I am firm believer that lettuce only exists to service a
       | transportation vehicle for more delicious sauces. As such I
       | enthusiastically support this effort to invent a better pasta
       | transportation vehicle.
       | 
       | Ordered a box for their next batch. Shipping was $10 which kinda
       | stings. Still cheaper than ordering a bunch of pasta from
       | DoorDash.
        
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