Design in sauce

**Pasta has been filling people up and making them happy for thousands of years. But the cooked dough is not only a staple food, but also a design task, as the variety of Italian pasta shows. And, incidentally, rigatoni, conchiglie and agnolotti prove that the dictum form follows function can bring pleasure ** Text: Jasmin Jouhar

What would have to be invented urgently if it didn't already exist? The pasta! Which family can get by without the obligatory spaghetti with tomato sauce? The almost worldwide spread of pasta and pasta-like dishes alone proves how universal the concept of cooked dough is. But who actually invented pasta? Certainly not the Italians, as the oldest surviving specimens of humanity were found in China, a bowl of millet pasta that is around four thousand years old. The prehistoric noodles are long and thin and resemble modern-day spaghetti. However, noodle-like pasta also existed in the Mediterranean region and the Middle East in ancient times. Research assumes that the food appeared on the human menu several times and independently of each other. However, when it comes to creativity in dealing with shapeless lumps of dough, the Italians are still unrivaled today. The leading design nation has not only achieved great things in the design of cars, furniture, appliances and lighting. No other culture has produced such a diverse repertoire of pasta shapes. The wealth of design solutions for the mixture of wheat and water is so impressive that exhibitions have even been dedicated to the subject, such as the recent "Al Dente. Pasta & Design" at the HfG Archive in Ulm, for which there is an accompanying book worth reading (see below). Italian cuisine distinguishes between pasta made from durum wheat semolina, which is more common in the south, and pasta made from flour and egg, which is typical of the north and is prepared fresh. This has given rise to countless regional variations that are combined with certain ingredients or eaten on certain occasions. Everyone knows spaghetti, cannelloni and ravioli, but not necessarily canestri, malloreddus, radiatori or strozzapetri. The variety of Italian pasta also confirms the somewhat, excuse me, overused design dictum of form follows function. Tubular pasta such as penne or rigatoni owe their shape to the task of absorbing as much juicy, strong sugo as possible. Grooves (rigate) enhance the effect, and the slanted cut of the penne ensures that the sauce is literally shoveled into the noodle when stirred. Round, bowl-shaped varieties such as orecchiette or conchiglie, which are inspired by mussels, work in a similar way. Finer, lighter sauces require equally fine carriers, from spaghettini and linguine to vermicelli or the delicate capelli d'Angelo. The idea of wrapping the dish directly in the pasta dough has always fired the imagination of chefs, as ravioli, agnolotti and tortellini prove in the most delicious way. But pasta design is not an orthodox functionalism. While all the grooves, ruffles, folds and spikes may have their practical purpose, they are also an expression of the joy of detail and decoration. Not all types of pasta known today are of traditional, artisanal origin - industrialization in the 19th century considerably expanded the possibilities. With the help of mechanical pressing processes, a strand of dough is pressed through dies, comparable to the extrusion of metals, ceramics or plastic. Of course, prominent designers have devoted themselves to pasta - the appeal of seeing their own designs on thousands of plates is too great. HfG lecturer Walter Zeischegg was one of the first to attempt this on behalf of Birkel, but without any edible results. Vehicle designers Giorgio Giugiaro and Walter de Silva also developed new variations - as did the inevitable Philippe Starck. Japanese designer Kenya Hara even launched a competition for innovative pasta shapes in the 1990s. But what all these pasta creations have in common is that they are somehow cerebral and complicated, lacking the ingenious simplicity, indeed the wit, of classic shapes. It looks like there is nothing left to improve on the pasta.