THE BATTLE OF THE PASTAS

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In THE BATTLE OF THE ICE CREAMS, vanilla ice cream was the winner of the poll, with chocolate ice cream in coming very closely behind in second place.

It's now the turn of the pastas to do battle! This is a poll about different types of pasta not different pasta dishes. Pasta salad, macaroni cheese (aka mac and cheese), minestrone soup and spaghetti bolognese are pasta dishes and are thus excluded from the poll. Likewise, I'm excluding stuffed or filled pastas such as agnolini, agnolotti, cappelletti, manicotti, maultasche, mezzelune, ravioli and tortellini. I was in a quandary about cannelloni but I'm European so I'm including this pasta in the poll!

Pasta derives from a Greek term meaning barley porridge, but perhaps strangely most pasta is made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs. There are alternatives often involving rice and legumes, and there's also gluten-free pasta.

Pasta is so Italian. The Italians are very proud of their pasta, just as proud as the French of their wine and the Germans of their beer. It's estimated that there are over 300 types of pastas and well over 1,000 names for pasta. For example, the Italians have 28 different names for cavatelli pasta. Most Italian pasta is made from durum wheat, sometimes known as pasta wheat and even macaroni wheat.

I know I'm babbling and blathering here, but one of the key reasons why the price of pasta has skyrocketed of late is because of the Ukraine War; Ukraine is a major producer and exporter of wheat. I cut over ten words from the first draft of this paragraph. Mr Wordy indeed!

There's fresh pasta (pasta fresca) and dried pasta (pasta secca). There's short pasta, long pasta, sheet pasta, egg pasta and dumpling pasta. There's also strand pasta, ribbon pasta, tubular pasta and shaped pasta. Often pasta is named after its shape.

All pastas that I've tried are good. My favourite pastas are bucatini, cannelloni, cappelli da chef, cavatappi, farfalle, fusilli, macaroni, orecchiette, pappardelle, penne, radiatori, rigatoni, rotini, tagliatelle and vermicelli. But my most favourite pasta is conchiglie (aka shells) - see photo below. I particularly like the pastas that are ridged, tubular and shaped; all sorts of hidden delights can be found in and on those pastas. There's nothing better pasta-wise in tasting the insides of a pasta-made conch shell.

I'm not a big fan of spaghetti; it's a bit boring, quite starchy and also very messy to eat. However, my least favourites are the soup pastas (aka pastina) - the tiny pasta bits found in many soups, especially Italian soups like minestrone soup. Pastina include acini de pepe, anelli, canederli, conchigliette, ditalini, farfalline, fideos, fregula, orzo and ptitim. Pastina doesn't add much to the eating experience other than the sensation of something globule-like going down your throat as the soup is downed!

What are your most and least favourite pastas?
Do you make your own pasta?
What's your favourite pasta dish?
What do you sprinkle or drizzle over pasta dishes

Below is a poll where you can anonymously select your most favourite pasta. Unfortunately only one pick is allowed in the poll.

A poll on this site can only have 20 answer options. There was no room for acini de pepe, anelli, arishta, barbine, bavette, bigoli, boccoli, bombardoni, bucatini, busiate (aka busiati), calamarata, campanelle, canederli, cappelli da chef (chef's hats), caramelle, casarecce, cascatelli, castellane, cavatappi (aka amori, cellentani, serpentini, spirali or tortiglioni), cavatelli, cencioni, chifferi, chitarinne, cicioneddos, conchigliette, corbata, corzetti, creste di galli, ditalini, fagiolone, fagottini, fainelle, farfalline, fazzoletti, fedelini, ferrazzuoli, festoni, fideo, fileja, fiorentine, fiori, fisarmoniche, foglie d'ulivo, fregula, garganelli, gemelli, gnocchi (pasta not dumplings), gomiti, insalatonde, lagane, lanterne, lorighittas, lumaconi, maccheroncelli, maccheroni alla molinara, maccheroncini di Campfilone, mafalde, mafaldine (aka reginette), malloreddus, maltagliati, mandala, marille, matriciani, mezzani, mezzelune, mostaccioli, nuvole, orzo, paccheri, paglia e fieno (straw and hay), passatelli, pasta el ceppo, perciatelli, picagge, picchiarelli, pici, pillus, pipe rigate, pipette rigate, ptitim, quadrefiore, riccioli, ricciolini, ricciutelle, rombi, rotelle, ruote, rustiche, sagnarelli, sagne 'ncannulate, scialatielli, spätzle (aka nokedli), spighe, stelle, strapponi, stringozzi, strozzapreti, su filindeu, tagliolini (aka sagne or sagnette), testaroli, torchietti, torchio, treccioni, trenette, tripoline, trofie, trottole, tubini, tuffali and Vesuvio. But there is always the 'other' option for those pastas not listed. Hopefully I've covered all the popular pasta as poll options. I never want 'other' to win as that's a sign of a poorly designed poll!

I've never made my own pasta; it seems difficult to make given the times pasta making is shown as a challenge in all those cooking television programmes. My favourite pasta dish is probably macaroni cheese. And with most pasta dishes, not macaroni cheese though, I often grate parmesan cheese, sprinkle chilli flakes or drizzle chilli oil over it, all with a powdering of black pepper.

I think macaroni will win the poll, but cannelloni, lasagna, penne, spaghetti and vermicelli may feature strongly in the poll. May the best pasta win!

I want to thank both @EnigmaInitiative and @hippiechick1967 for their very helpful suggestions in compiling this poll. But any mistakes are of course my mistakes.

Please see the first comment below to see what has won each battle so far.

Conchiglie pasta with pork polpette and artickokes:

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