Spiraling toward perfection

LONDON: The pasta I like best is one capable of holding a sauce - those that come with nooks, crannies, pockets and hollows in which a dribble of cream or a morsel of sauce can safely hide till it gets in your mouth.

It's the shells, tubes and spirals that get my vote over the ribbons and strings every time. Of course this could be pure greed: There is something much more satisfying about biting into a bit of pasta that oozes cheesy, herby sauce into your mouth than one that feels like a piece of oily string.

The more interesting pasta shapes, such as the shell-shaped conchiglie or the ear-like orecchiette, didn't just happen. You know that someone once put a great deal of thought into the stuff we now treat as the ultimate no-brain supper. It took nothing short of a genius to come up with the classic shapes of pasta.