Why pasta comes in all shapes and sizes | Small Thing Big Idea, a TED series

Transcriber: TED Translators admin Reviewer: Krystian Aparta

Traductor: Sebastian Betti Revisor: Gisela Giardino

Food is design.

La comida es diseño.

It is design when you compose plates,

Es diseño, como un todo, en el plato.

but it is amazing, even better and most delightful design

Pero es un diseño increíble, e incluso más atractivo,

when it's about the units.

si miramos las partes.

[Small thing.]

[Cosa pequeña.]

[Big idea.]

[Idea grande.]

"Pasta" comes from Latin,

"Pasta" viene del latín

and it means "paste."

y significa "masa".

It's about putting together water and some powder,

Es una masa de agua y harina

so that you can actually shape it.

que se puede modelar.

There are cultures in the world that use rice powder,

En el mundo hay culturas que usan harina de arroz,

others use soy powder.

otras usan harina de soja.

In Italy, we tend to use durum wheat.

En Italia solemos usar el trigo candeal.

Pasta existed for centuries,

La pasta existe desde hace siglos,

but it really blossomed during the Renaissance.

pero floreció durante el Renacimiento.

And it's only later on in the 17th century

La producción masiva se inició más tarde,

that it became more mass produced.

en el siglo XVII.

Whenever you design an object of any kind,

Al diseñar un objeto de cualquier tipo

you think of how you want it to perform.

siempre se piensa en su función.

So think about the same for pasta.

Pensemos la pasta de la misma manera.

Do you want it to be ribbed

¿La queremos acanalada

or you want it to be smooth?

o la queremos lisa?

The ribbed ones absorb the sauce better.

La pasta acanalada absorbe mejor la salsa.

Do you want them to be round

¿La queremos redonda

or do you want them to be square?

o la queremos cuadrada?

They have a different feel on the palate.

El paladar las percibe de manera diferente.

Everything is for a reason.

Todo tiene una razón detrás.

In the amazing taxonomy of the pasta species,

La variedad de pastas es increíble,

there are many different ways to divide it,

hay muchas formas de clasificarlas,

but one of the basic divisions is between fresh pasta and dry pasta.

pero una distinción básica es entre pasta fresca y seca.

Dry pasta is always durum wheat flour and water.

La pasta seca siempre es con harina candeal y agua.

Fresh pasta could be either that

La pasta fresca se puede hacer del mismo modo,

or it could be flour and eggs.

o con harina triple cero y huevo.

Just think of having a dough

Imagina tener una masa

that you can shape in any way you want.

para modelar a tu antojo.

I mean, really, wouldn't you go crazy?

¿No sería enloquecedor?

So fresh and dry, but then, there's also long and short.

Entonces, pasta fresca o seca, pero también larga o corta.

And then within those families, there's even more diversity.

Y dentro de estas categorías, hay otras variedades.

Let's talk about some really classical types of short pasta.

Hablemos de algunos tipos clásicos de pasta corta.

Penne -- we all know them, right?

Penne. Todos las conocemos, ¿no?

They are cut at a slanted angle,

Tienen puntas cortadas en ángulo inclinado,

perfect to pick up some of the sauce.

para poder recoger algo de la salsa.

"Farfalle" means "butterflies," or how do you call it here,

"Farfalle" significa "mariposas", o como lo llaman aquí,

bow ties, because they are, like, pinched in the middle.

moñitos, por su forma, apretadas en el centro.

"Orecchiette" means "little ears,"

"Orecchiette" significa "orejitas",

and they're typical from Puglia, and they are delicious.

típicas de Apulia, son deliciosas.

And "conquilla," shells, and of course, they look like shells.

"Conchiglie" conchas, por su semejanza a las conchas de mar.

They are ribbed, so they scoop up the sauce on the outside

Son acanaladas, así que recogen la salsa por fuera,

and they are smooth on the inside.

y son lisas por dentro.

Pasta is definitely gorgeous,

La pasta es algo maravilloso,

but the form also is about how it touches the palate,

pero su forma repercute también en el contacto con el paladar,

how it touches the tongue,

con la lengua,

so it's never just about giving it a shape.

por eso no solo es una cuestión de forma.

When you hone one object across centuries,

Cuando se perfecciona un objeto a lo largo de los siglos

standards become really, really high.

se crean estándares muy, muy altos.

Many so-called great designers failed miserably,

Muchos denominados grandes diseñadores fallaron estrepitosamente

because they tried to impose a shape onto pasta.

en su intento por imponer una forma a la pasta.

The great Philippe Starck tried mandala.

El gran Philippe Starck intentó con la "Mandala",

Some parts of it, the walls, were very thick,

un tipo de pasta con unas paredes muy gruesas,

and the others were thinner,

y otras partes más finas,

so when you would boil the pasta,

de modo que al cocinar la pasta,

some of it would be completely mushy

en unas partes quedaba muy cocida

while part of it was too crunchy and uncooked.

y en otras partes quedaba crocante o cruda.

So really wrong, but they were not women from Bologna,

Un completo desastre, producto no de mujeres boloñesas

they were not chefs from Naples,

ni de cocineros napolitanos,

they were not centuries of families of grandmothers

ni de siglos de abuelas de familia,

that were trying to improve on the thinness of the walls of the pasta.

empeñadas en mejorar las paredes de la pasta.

There's no way to trace pasta back to one designer, one inventor,

No hay manera de atribuir la creación de la pasta

a un diseñador o a una inventora,

and that's the beauty of it.

y esa es su gran belleza.

It belongs to the people.

Pertenece a la gente.

And if you think about it,

Y si lo piensas,

this simple mixture of a carbohydrate and water

esta mezcla simple de carbohidratos y agua,

becomes the scaffold for a whole culture to be built.

se ha vuelto parte constitutiva de toda una cultura.