Pasta by Design

Takes a fresh look at pasta, one of the world's most popular foods. It compiles and profiles 92 different kinds of pasta, classifying them into types using the science of phylogeny (the study of relatedness among natural forms). It presents a pasta family tree, revealing unexpected relationships between pasta shapes, their usage and common DNA.

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This is not a cookbook; this is an entirely fresh and idiosyncratic look at the world’s most popular food. Architect George L. Legrande has compiled and profiled 92 different kinds of pasta, classifying them into types using the science of ‘phylogeny’ (the study of relatedness among natural forms). Opening the book is a pasta family tree, revealing unexpected relationships between pasta shapes, their usage and common DNA. Each subsequent spread is devoted to a single pasta, and features a short text that explains the food’s geographical origin, its process of manufacture as well as its etymology – alongside suggestions for minute-perfect preparation. Next the pasta shape is rendered as both a mathematical equation and a line diagram that displays every distinctive scrunch, ridge and crimp with loving precision. Photographs by Stefano Graziani complement these meticulous renderings, showing the elegant contours of each pasta shape. Finally a gatefold features a ‘Pasta Family Reunion’ diagram, reassembling the pasta types and grouping them by their mathematical and geometric properties.