PASTA is among the most popular foods consumed across the world today, and every pasta-eater has a favourite shape whose superiority they swear by. When the “cascatelli” (the word translates to “waterfall” in Italian) was introduced by James Beard Award winning food expert Dan Pashman in 2021, it joined a pantheon of over 350 pasta shapes. Just how did so many pasta shapes evolve?
IN THE BEGINNING, there were noodles. The roots of modern-day pasta lie in the starchy noodles of China, made from wheat, rice, even millets and tapioca. The wheat used at the time would have only been used to make fresh noodles, not the dried and cut variety we are used to today. In fact, the durum wheat that good pasta dough requires can be traced to the Middle East. There is some evidence to suggest that popular Italian pastas like vermicelli and spaghetti were first developed by Arabs. Italian cooks only learned to work with the flour from durum wheat much later, when Sicily began to produce the latter crop.
EARLY PASTAS had to be worked by hand — that meant it was a time and labour-intensive process and a few easy-to-create shapes, like spaghetti, were preferred. Additionally, the thin noodle-like strands dried quickly in the Italian clime, making it an optimal choice. Then, circa the 16th century, extrusion presses came to be used in the making of pasta, leading to an explosion of new shapes like the beloved elbow macaroni. The rigatoni and tagliatelle gave way to even more elaborate and whimsical shapes, like gemmeli and radiatori once the steam engine made the task of operating pasta presses even simpler.
PASTA WENT MAINSTREAM when it caught on in the US in the 1800s. Americans still preferred a few standard shapes though — typically macaroni. But as more and more Italian immigrants made their way to the States, between 1880 to 1920, Americans became better acquainted with other pasta shapes and varieties. By the 1970s and ‘80s, pasta consumption boomed in the US, and many Americans now name it among their favourite foods.
CONFUSED ABOUT WHICH PASTA SHAPE IS BEST? The Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts offers the following guide for which pasta to use when:
LONG — angel hair, fettuccine, fideo, fusilli, lasagna, lasagne, linguine, mafalda, pappardelle, reginette, spaghetti, tagliatelle, thin spaghetti, vermicelli — pairs best with LIGHT/OIL-BASED SAUCES (when the noodles are thin) and with MEAT SAUCES (for the longer ribbon pastas).
TUBE — bucatini, casarecce, cavatappi, elbow, manicotti, penne, penne mostaccioli, penne rigate, pipe rigate, pipette rigate, riccioli, rigatoni, tortiglioni, tubini, ziti — work with HEARTY SAUCES that contain vegetables or cheese.
SOUP — acini de pepe, alphabet, ditalini, orecchiette, orzo, pastina.
STUFFED — ravioli, tortellini — work for LIGHT SAUCES.
SPECIAL SHAPES — anelli/anellini, campanelle, cappalletti, cavatelli, conchiglie, egg noodles, farfalle, farfalline, gemelli, gigli, radiatori, rocchetti, rotelle, rotini, ruote, tripolini — are suitable for SOUPS and SALADS.