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

Transcriber: TED Translators admin Reviewer: Krystian Aparta

翻訳: Yasushi Aoki 校正: Moe Shoji

Food is design.

食べ物というのはデザインです

It is design when you compose plates,

料理の盛り付けをするのも デザインですが

but it is amazing, even better and most delightful design

一層素晴らしく 喜びを与えるデザインが

when it's about the units.

素材の部分にあります

[Small thing.]

［小さな物の大きなアイデア］

[Big idea.]

"Pasta" comes from Latin,

「パスタ」という言葉は ラテン語から来ていて

and it means "paste."

「練り粉」を意味します

It's about putting together water and some powder,

水と粉を混ぜるということで

so that you can actually shape it.

形を作れます

There are cultures in the world that use rice powder,

世界には米粉を 使うところもあれば

others use soy powder.

大豆粉を使うところも ありますが

In Italy, we tend to use durum wheat.

イタリアではデュラム小麦を よく使います

Pasta existed for centuries,

パスタはずっと昔から ありましたが

but it really blossomed during the Renaissance.

本当に花開くのは ルネサンス時代で

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

大量生産される ようになったのは

that it became more mass produced.

17世紀になってからです

Whenever you design an object of any kind,

ものをデザインするときには

どう機能してほしいかを 考えます

you think of how you want it to perform.

So think about the same for pasta.

パスタでもそうです

Do you want it to be ribbed

うねを付けたいか

or you want it to be smooth?

なめらかにしたいか

The ribbed ones absorb the sauce better.

うねのあるほうが ソースとよく絡みます

Do you want them to be round

丸くしたいか

or do you want them to be square?

四角にしたいか

They have a different feel on the palate.

口あたりが変わります

Everything is for a reason.

何にでも理由があります

In the amazing taxonomy of the pasta species,

パスタの種類については いろんな用語があり

there are many different ways to divide it,

たくさんの分類法があります

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

基本的な分類のひとつは 生か乾燥かです

Dry pasta is always durum wheat flour and water.

乾燥パスタは デュラム小麦と水で作られます

Fresh pasta could be either that

生パスタは小麦と水か

or it could be flour and eggs.

小麦と卵です

どんな風にでも形作れる 生地があるのを

Just think of having a dough

that you can shape in any way you want.

想像してみてください

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

面白いことを やりたくなるでしょう

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

生か乾燥かの他に 長い短いの違いもあります

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

そのそれぞれに 多様な変種があります

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

短いパスタの基本的な種類を いくつか挙げましょう

Penne -- we all know them, right?

ペンネはみんな 知ってますよね？

They are cut at a slanted angle,

斜めに切ってあって

perfect to pick up some of the sauce.

ソースとよく絡みます

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

ファルファッレ(蝶)は 英語では蝶ネクタイですが

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

真ん中で摘まんだ ようになっています

"Orecchiette" means "little ears,"

オレキエッテは 小さな耳を意味し

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

プーリア州の名産で 美味しいんです

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

コンキリエ(貝殻)はもちろん 貝殻型をしています

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

うねがあって 外側にソースが絡み

and they are smooth on the inside.

内側はなめらかです

Pasta is definitely gorgeous,

パスタは美しいものですが

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

形は口あたり 舌触りに影響し

how it touches the tongue,

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

単なる見た目の話では ないのです

When you hone one object across centuries,

１つのものを何百年も 磨き上げれば

standards become really, really high.

水準がものすごく 高くなります

Many so-called great designers failed miserably,

偉大なデザイナーと 言われる人たちが

パスタの形をデザインしようとして 見事に失敗しています

because they tried to impose a shape onto pasta.

The great Philippe Starck tried mandala.

かのフィリップ・スタルクが 考案した「マンダラ」ですが

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

ある部分はすごく肉厚で

and the others were thinner,

他の部分は薄く

so when you would boil the pasta,

茹でた時に 一部は煮崩れ

some of it would be completely mushy

while part of it was too crunchy and uncooked.

一部は生煮えに なってしまいます

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

全然駄目です

ボローニャの女たちや

they were not chefs from Naples,

ナポリのシェフたちや

they were not centuries of families of grandmothers

家庭のおばあちゃんたちが 何百年にもわたって

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

パスタの厚みを 改良してきたんです

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

パスタは１人のデザイナーや 発明家によるものではなく

and that's the beauty of it.

そこが素晴らしいところで

It belongs to the people.

人々のものなんです

And if you think about it,

考えてもみてください

this simple mixture of a carbohydrate and water

このシンプルな 炭水化物と水の混合物が

becomes the scaffold for a whole culture to be built.

ひとつの文化の 土台になるんですから