Because sometimes it's just good to slurp....and when you are making pasta, it's lots easier to make long noodles than little ears or fusilli or Farfalle...or....

I dont have a problem with eating spagetti noodles or any other long pasta, therefore I dont have a need for a noodle that’s easier to eat. I dont mind trying other varieties, but saying they’re difficlut to eat sounds rediculous to me

I used to eat a lot of pasta and really got to know the difference between the shapes. They taste different because of the way they hold the sauce. They also taste different if they're extruded through brass molds vs. stainless machines, vs. homestyle roller/cutters, vs. hand rolled and cut by knife. And that's not even getting into the flour, water and additives.

I like spaghetti. I like twirling spaghetti. It only requires a spoon and difficulty if it's a tad undercooked (less than al dente) and doesn't bend well. I can cook a pound of spaghetti in a two quart saucepan and have it come out perfectly. I don't need a restaurant style vertical insert and a huge waste of water.

My Italian best friend from childhood always cut up her spaghetti. It's something they do for babies. She never cared if people thought she was being a baby and carried it on into adulthood. And behold! Easy to eat spaghetti!

I'm trying to think of a different shape that comes close to the taste of spaghetti and I can't really, but if you can find small orecchiette, they might give you a similar sauce to pasta ratio. They're, the little ears, basically Italy's answer to spaghetti-o's, without the hole.

I don't disagree with you.

It's more work to cook and to eat spaghetti, and all pasta basically taste the same to me.

I like eating pasta with a spoon. You can get as much sauce as you want without making a mess.

I have not learn how to eat spaghetti and meatballs together yet.

dcarch

There's lots of info regarding what pasta works best with what sauce. With something like a Bolognese sauce, I'm equally happy with spaghetti or rigatoni. I don't think it matters much if it works well for you.

I'm a little strange around pasta. It seems like penne is really thick, same with big ole things like the butterfly things and such.

I don't have any idea why I don't like regular spaghetti, but am fine with angelhair!

I've actually been going towards a spinach pasta. I think I'm a bit paranoid about carbs and diabetes (don't have it yet, don't want to!), so I'm going for less carb heavy food whenever I can.

DH prefers spaghetti, but he cuts it up into short pieces. If I make penne or farfalle etc, he isn't happy. Go figure. It does have a different mouth feel.

I believe that in Italy it's incorrect to use a spoon (in addition to the fork :-) ) to twirl the spaghetti. TBH I've never used a spoon, my mother must have learned from an Italian family she boarded with in college (and taught me in early childhood, as I can't remember not being able to do it), just a fork touching on the plate.

There was an Italian diplomat or some such making the rounds a couple of decades ago, going on talk shows and showing people how to twirl spaghetti with a spoon, which gave me the impression that that was considered "correct". It was a cream soup spoon (round bowl) and probably good for such occasions as worrying whether spoon or not is correct because it would also server to contain unexpected spatter, right? I've also always done just the fork. But, as I said, my Italian friend cuts it up like Colleen's DH. :)

Pasta sauces are so good, so why spoil them by plopping in some slippery noodles? I'd rather eat them with a spoon or mop them up with some bread.

I like spaghetti, though, but only with just a bit of butter and salt.. Sometimes with just olive oil and briefly fried garlic. This works for me only with spaghetti, uncomfortable though it is.

Don't have a problem with spaghetti. Just a fork. But i dont like heavy pasta so I break the law and serve spaghetti with Bolognese sauce. I don't like ears....too thick and I make my ravioli really thin.

You can tell me it’s all the same, you can show me ingredients, whatever, but it’s not the same to me. Pasta can be interchangeable but not always. For example I like capellini for something like scampi, but if I’m making spaghetti and reach for the box and find it’s capellini, I’m running out to the store. I’ve often had a salad made with penne where I’ve though it would be so much better with a lighter pasta.

Islay - Oh no, spaghetti with bolognese is a faux pas?? Who knew. I’m not too concerned though as I’m already improper in the way I drown my pasta with sauce. I’ve heard that’s an American thing.

I like different shapes of pasta. The heavy sauces I gravitate to heavier shapes.....tubes, penne, fusili, etc. I like the bow ties as well for a nice change. I twirl in a spoon. :-)

The different shapes can add a textural variety too. Bowties cooked just right are softer on the outside with a chew at the twist, which I like. Thin ribbons of linguine do seem light as does angel hair. Orecchiette often bundles together to make a chewy bite. I only by pasta made in Italy these days, it does taste better.

As plllog mentioned, different pastas absorb and carry sauces differently. But I confess, I don’t always follow rules. I prefer spaghetti with Bolognese (I know, I know!). I make a shrimp fettucine with a heavily herbed beurre blanc, and again, not the most ideal pasta (although for that dish I make my fettucine pretty thin).

No issue with eating long pasta (and it’s faster for me to make, I can whip up vermicelli and fettucine almost blind, although ravioli’s take me a while! ) I do use a fork, sometimes I cut it up a bit (with meat sauces), sometimes I twirl (with meatless sauces) using only a fork as well as a fork and spoon, so clearly if I were in Italy, or Italian, I’d be eating like a baby at times, but I’m neither so I don’t really fret it.

Islay, I do love orecchiette for collecting all the lovely sauce and make mine on the thin side, but there are so many that do a good job of holding sauce. I also make my ravioli thin.

Still, I mostly make the longer pastas as it’s so easy and gently heat extra sauce with my pasta to absorb the flavors prior to serving. I can't see myself ever living without all the various pastas... but then, I love homemade pasta.

Just thinking about a chicken tetrazzini recipe I like that calls for linguine. I much prefer using penne.

Kudos to all who make their own pasta...something I've never done.

After reading this thread I decided to have spaghetti for todays supper. I prefer the long pasta, thin spaghetti. I'm a master at fork twirling. I can eat it in public and do so with impeccable manners until I'm walking out of the restaurant with my arms crossed in front hiding all the splatters. My grands enjoy all the pastas. Any shape or size if its covered in a red sauce they are lovin it.

For me the spaghitti noodles taste different than the full bodied pastas like rigitoni ect. Well not different but more pasta tasting.

"Pasta sauces are so good, so why spoil them by plopping in some slippery noodles? I'd rather eat them with a spoon or mop them up with some bread."

Because then they are not pasta sauces - they are just stews or gravy :-)

Personally I have no issue with any shape of pasta but do tend to use them in their tradtional manner and with traditional type sauces - spaghetti with marinara or just butter and cheese, linguine with clam sauce, fettucini with cream sauces, etc. I don't find one any more difficut to eat than another.

"mamapinky0

After reading this thread I decided to have spaghetti for todays supper.---"

Sorry you can't.

It's not Wednesday.

dcarch :-)

My go-to pasta dish when I was in grad school was radiatore with pepper marsala cheese sauce. It was okay with rigatoni instead of radiatore if it was very carefully sauced so big globs didn't get in the center. Rotini always held too much sauce per pasta. Radiatore were perfect. And tragic with a light lemon sauce. :)

OTOH, I'm totally with Martha in the end. It's your food! Eat what you like!

in japan it is considered rude not to slurp when eating noodles.

I don't like penne or rigatoni, the chewy center in farfalle or the stick-to-getherness of orecchiette. Campenelle is my go to for many recipes. I love thick spaghetti, fettuccini, pappardelle and capellini.

Oh yeah, forgot about the slurp factor! HATE mouth noises and hubby is the KING of slurping! I've mentioned it several times during our 40 year marriage to no avail!

But it IS tomato season and we are having a bumper crop, so I guess I'll have to suffer through some spaghetti meals!

I'll break them up by freezing the sauce and break up (or prolong) the agony! Nancy

I love fettuccini and linguini; they always seem to taste better than other pastas. And then I cut them into short pieces to eat.

To me there is a huge difference between the various pastas , how they hold the sauce and their texture.

DH prefers spaghetti, linguine and fettuccine...no matter the sauce. He doesn't like the texture of thicker pastas.

For me I like meat sauces or sauces that include a chicken or shrimp with a long , thin pasta. For sauces that don't include meat , I like a heavier , thicker pasta.......just me

Exception...thick pastas for ANY sauce that is baked even if it includes meat

I agree with the OP. Yes, I can eat the long spaghetti with no problem but not out in the company of people of Italian heritage, who DO make comments when I cut the spaghetti up instead of twirling it.

I do agree also that there's a difference in the way they hold their sauce. But one can find shorter things that pretty much behave as spaghetti with their saucing ability.

Recently, I've had pho at a Vietnamese restaurant. You are supposed to slurp those long noodles. I feel funny doing that! (But at least this is do-able!) (I handle chopsticks like an expert...)

I will note I probably cook Italian pasta about four or five times a year. Too many empty carbs that don't really do that much for me taste-wise to justify making them often. I couldn't even tell you the difference between rigatoni, farfalle, or orecchiette. It's elbows for mac and cheese, and fettuccini otherwise. Mac and cheese is about once a year, and contains a plethora of veggies, and I prefer it in a skillet rather than baked.

I seldom order pasta when I'm dining out unless it's something stuffed like ravioli that is more difficult for me to make at home. Otherwise, since pasta is so easy to make and sauces are, too, they are at home meals for me. I like to order things in restaurants that I wouldn't make at home. I might be tempted by a pasta dish with truffles, regardless of the shape, though.

That said, I do prefer long thin pasta like spaghetti over the thicker types (unless they are homemade egg noodles). I pretty much only make pasta with pesto or clam sauce, or spaghetti with butter and parmesan for my grandson, who likes no sauces of any kind. A favorite for him is Fregola, which we call "noodle balls". Hard to come by in my town and I don't really want to bother with mail ordering. I pick it up if I see it when I'm in Seattle or Portland.

"I like to order things in restaurants that I wouldn't make at home."

With a few exceptions, I'm pretty much the same, Olychick.

Part of the charm of pasta is it's different shapes. Bolognese sauce with pappardelle, trofie with pesto, spaghetti with garlic and oil, linguine with clam sauce, pasta alla Norma with rigatoni There is only one pasta that I really dislike and won't use it even when it's called for - angel hair spaghetti.

Angel hair pasta. I also don't like it but a few days ago my grands ask if we could try it sometime..sigh...so of course I have to let them. I will however make it as a side dish with prolly butter, garlic and parm. It can over cook so darn fast...almost have to drop count to 3 and drain. Lol.

I make the Americanized version of vermicelli, which is thinner than that in Italy, to my understanding. It falls between regular spaghetti and angel hair - or rather mine does. I'm not sure I understand the aversion to angel hair, other than it is very thin, like capellini, but find it's quite good with butter-garlic sauces, or any thin liquid-y sauce.

Like the bread thread, this is making me very hungry for pasta!

I like bucatini almost as much as I like saying bucatini. We have Bucatini all'Amatriciana about once a month.

Bucatini is about the only pasta I _don't_ like. My MIL buys it. I dislike the way you can't slurp up the last little bit and the thick feel of it in my mouth.

From that point of view, the one I don't like is ziti. It's too big, too smooth and too thick. I like pasta bakes just fine, but not the classic baked ziti.

mamapinky0, someone here once wrote about cooking pasta/spaghetti (especially the thinner types) by bringing a pot of water to a boil, then adding the pasta, turn off the heat to the pot and let the pasta sit in the hot water until it's done. It is the BEST way I've found for cooking thin pasta - it never gets overdone. I let it get to the doneness I want, then rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. Then I heat it on the burner, add the sauce and it's perfect every time!