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

Transcriber: TED Translators admin Reviewer: Krystian Aparta

譯者: Yuwei Duan 審譯者: Lo Hsien Huang

Food is design.

食物即設計。

It is design when you compose plates,

當你在擺盤時，就是一種設計，

but it is amazing, even better and most delightful design

但令人驚嘆的、更上一層的、 最爲賞心悅目的設計，

when it's about the units.

則是食物的最小單元。

[Small thing.]

[小物件]

[Big idea.]

[大構思]

"Pasta" comes from Latin,

pasta（義大利麵） 一詞來自拉丁文，

and it means "paste."

意思是「糊狀物 」（paste），

It's about putting together water and some powder,

指的是將水和麵粉混合在一起，

so that you can actually shape it.

然後讓它成形。

There are cultures in the world that use rice powder,

世界上有些文化中會用米粉，

others use soy powder.

有些則用豆粉。

In Italy, we tend to use durum wheat.

在義大利，我們傾向於杜蘭小麥麵粉。

Pasta existed for centuries,

義大利麵有上千年的歷史，

but it really blossomed during the Renaissance.

但是在文藝復興時期 才真正開始興盛。

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

直到 17 世紀後期，

that it became more mass produced.

才開始量產。

Whenever you design an object of any kind,

當你要設計東西時，

you think of how you want it to perform.

你都得考慮你想要的性能。

So think about the same for pasta.

同樣道理，想想義大利麵，

Do you want it to be ribbed

你希望它是有紋路的，

or you want it to be smooth?

還是順滑的？

The ribbed ones absorb the sauce better.

有紋路的更能吸收醬汁。

Do you want them to be round

你希望它是圓的，

or do you want them to be square?

還是方的？

They have a different feel on the palate.

兩者的口感不同。

Everything is for a reason.

每樣事物的存在都有理由。

In the amazing taxonomy of the pasta species,

義大利麵的分類令人震驚，

there are many different ways to divide it,

分類法則多種多樣，

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

但最基本的區分是 新鮮和乾燥的義大利麵。

Dry pasta is always durum wheat flour and water.

乾燥義大利麵一定是由 杜蘭小麥粉和水做成。

Fresh pasta could be either that

新鮮義大利麵可以是相同成分，

or it could be flour and eggs.

也可以是由麵粉和雞蛋做成。

Just think of having a dough

假想一下你有個麵團，

that you can shape in any way you want.

你可以做出任何形狀，

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

說真的，你不會有些瘋狂的想法嗎？

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

義大利麵除了新鮮和乾燥的分類， 還有長和短的分類。

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

在這些分類中， 還有更具多樣性的分類。

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

讓我們一起聊聊 經典的短義大利麵品種。

Penne -- we all know them, right?

筆管麵（Penne） 大家都不陌生，對吧？

They are cut at a slanted angle,

它們斜切而成，

perfect to pick up some of the sauce.

可以完美地吸收醬汁。

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

Farfalle（蝴蝶麵）的意思是「蝴蝶」，

或者在這裡的叫法是「領結麵」，

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

因爲它中間是捏起來的。

"Orecchiette" means "little ears,"

Orecchiette（貓耳朵） 意思是「小耳朵」，

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

是普利亞的特產，特別好吃。

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

還有「貝殼麵」(Conquilla)， 當然是因爲長得和貝殼一樣。

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

它們有紋路，所以外側能蘸上醬汁，

and they are smooth on the inside.

而内側則是光滑的。

Pasta is definitely gorgeous,

義大利麵確實很美妙，

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

但它的形態也和如何衝擊味蕾

how it touches the tongue,

和在舌頭上的觸感有關。

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

所以它從來不只是賦予形狀這麽簡單。

When you hone one object across centuries,

當你花費幾個世紀的時間 精心錘煉一樣東西，

standards become really, really high.

你的標準就會變得特別高。

Many so-called great designers failed miserably,

很多所謂的大設計師 都悲慘敗下陣來，

because they tried to impose a shape onto pasta.

因爲他們試圖將某種形狀 強加於義大利麵之上。

The great Philippe Starck tried mandala.

偉大的菲利普．斯塔克

嘗試了曼陀羅形狀，

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

其中一些部位，如外壁非常厚實，

and the others were thinner,

而別的部位更加細薄

so when you would boil the pasta,

因此煮這種義大利麵時，

some of it would be completely mushy

有的部分已經煮爛了，

while part of it was too crunchy and uncooked.

而有的部分還是硬的， 還沒有熟透，

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

這個設計思路完全錯誤。

但他們不是博洛尼亞的婦女，

they were not chefs from Naples,

也不是那不勒斯的大廚，

they were not centuries of families of grandmothers

他們也不是幾世紀以來的家庭祖母

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

試圖改進義大利麵纖細的外壁。

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

沒法將義大利麵起源追朔到 某一位設計師或發明家，

and that's the beauty of it.

而這正是義大利麵的美妙之處：

It belongs to the people.

它屬於人民。

And if you think about it,

如果你仔細想想，

this simple mixture of a carbohydrate and water

這種碳水化合物和水 組成的簡單混合物，

becomes the scaffold for a whole culture to be built.

成為整個文化建設的框架。