Your mission if you so choose to accept it……
Don’t you love cross promotions between Podcasters? Here I was, minding my own business- listening to pods which I was already subscribed to and then ‘Decoder Ring’ spoon feeds me an episode from another podcaster. And it left me riveted, so much so, that when the last tone was still ringing in my ear, I went and subscribed to this podcast.
The Sporkful was the podcast which so riveted me- a show for eaters, not foodies. And their tag line says it all, you don’t have to have a penchant for fine dining or across all the latest food fads to enjoy this pod, but you only need to enjoy eating- and isn’t that all of us?
Hosted by Dan Pashman, a New Yorker, and the very first episode which I listened to, was where he was telling the world his plan to create a new pasta shape. A 5-episode series called Mission ImPastabal! And over the episodes Dan first drums up excitement about his mission/new venture; then goes away to understand everything about pasta from ingredients, mass production methods, and learns of all the various shapes of pasta already out there; before placing pencil to drafting paper to design his ideal and never seen before pasta shape; then going away to find a designer to cast and a factory to produce his pasta; all the way till distribution of his new pasta shape to his faithful listeners.
And let me tell you, Dan has opened my eyes to a whole new world which I had previously never thought too deeply about- like there is a name for every variant of pasta, and here I thought the Rigatoni was just an oversized Penne pasta! And I thought the ruffles on the edges of pasta was just for aesthetic purposes, but they have a purpose of catching more sauce.
And throughout the series, and the criteria which Dan was creating his pasta shape to, was to fulfill the 3 requirements of Forkability! Sausability! And Tooth Sinkability! I.e., how easy is it to get the pasta onto your fork, how well does the pasta hold sauce on its slippery surface, and how much enjoyment do you gain from chewing that pasta? And again, with gusto! Forkability! Sausability! And Tooth Sinkability!
Now I’m wondering, how much postage and handling is going to cost, to ship a 5-pound bag of Dan Pashman’s pasta to Sydney Australia!?
To geek out on pasta, check out ‘The Sporkful’, click HERE to amerce yourself in the mission!
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