Imagine the Pasta-bilities

The world hosts approximately 350,000 beetle species, over 100,000 wasp species, 7,500 frog species, 1,400 bat species, 500 shark species, and 250 dandelion species. I considered this variety as I dug into my third pasta dish of the week, an orzo salad with fresh cucumbers and red onions.

Hungry humankind has conceived over 600 variations of pasta in all shapes and forms—dried, fresh, long, short, thick, thin, round, curved, straight, curly, hollow, ridged, and even shaped like stars, bows, and letters. Some noodles excel at holding sauces. Others are made to be stuffed with meat and cheese. Still others hold up well in soups.

We best associate pasta with Italy, whose citizens each consume over 60 pounds (27 kg) of the stuff a year. But pasta-like dishes appear in many cultural cuisines. Africa has couscous. Japan eats ramen. Greece makes makarounes. Hungary rolls out dumplings called csipetke. Argentina savors sorrentinos. Vietnam produces pho. China enjoys wonton noodles. France makes crozets. Germany serves up späetzle. And su filindeu, called the rarest pasta, is made exclusively by one Sardinian family.

Twirling my fork in a pile of spaghetti or slicing open a ravioli, I’m reminded that God placed the genetic material for 5,000 species of ladybugs and 20,000 species of daisy into the first of their kinds in Eden. And then, he created mankind in his creative image. Now, from a blend of flour, water, and sometimes egg and salt, we devise pasta variations that boggle the mind and delight the belly—carb creations for the Creator’s glory.

This article is from Answers magazine, January–March, 2024, p. 66.