Italians' favorite pasta formats: the new ranking!
Time goes by and we don't stop loving them: spaghetti remains at the top of the list of pasta shapes favored by Italians. The most versatile, the tastiest, the most popular, and it is no coincidence that they are also the most celebrated in cinema. Unforgettable, just to mention the most famous, are the scenes of Totò who in Misery and Nobility eats them with his hands standing on the table, and of Alberto Sordi who in An American in Rome is "provoked" by the dish left in the kitchen, and then enjoys it telling with his expression of a culinary passion that distinguishes us in the world. The one for spaghetti, and for pasta in general: an ingredient that deeply characterizes the Mediterranean Diet, for which we are world leaders in production, with 3.6 million tons that come from the best pasta factories in the world, and also for consumption, with 23 kilos per person per year.
This is recalled by Unione Italiana Food, which brings together Italian pasta makers, which has seen fit to take a snapshot of our tables by publishing a new ranking: after the favorite traditional pasta dishes, now also the shapes. By processing Nielsen IQ data, it identified the five most popular among over 500 formats and delved into how preferences change in the various Italian regions, each with its own recipes and each with its own eating habits. In particular, the survey covered four areas: North-West (Piedmont, Valle d'Aosta, Liguria, Lombardy), North-East (Trentino-Alto Adige, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Emilia-Romagna), Centre (Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, Lazio, Sardinia), South (Abruzzo, Molise, Puglia, Campania, Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily.)
Spaghetti in the first place, as we said: they are a constant, in any part of Italy. In second place are pens. Together they make up 78% of all pasta sold in Italy, in their various forms. To be clear, this percentage also includes spaghetti and spaghetti penne rigate together with the smooth ones (those so reviled during the pandemic, yet so loved, especially in the south). From third place onwards, Italy begins to divide: the north (west and east) prefers fusilli while the center prefers short pasta such as mezze maniche. In the south, on the other hand, in fourth place is pasta for broths and soups, with mixed pasta occupying most of the section. In fourth place, the situation is (almost) the opposite: in the North (west and east) and in the South, short pasta wins, while fusilli conquers the Centre. Positions rebalanced in fifth place: pasta for broths and soups predominates in the North while rigatoni/tortiglioni win in the Centre and South. To make everything clearer, I have schematized the top 5 in these lists:
Italians' favorite pasta shapes - North-West and North-EastSpaghettiPensFusilliShort pastaPasta for broths and soups - mixed
Italians' favorite pasta shapes - CentroSpaghettiPensShort PastaFusilliRigatoni
Italians' favorite pasta shapes - SouthSpaghettiPensPasta for broths and soups - mixedShort pastaTortiglioni
Lists that tell how Italy changes: every city, every village, its recipe, with some timeless classics that have made the history of cuisine and that also say a lot about the perfect pairing between pasta and its sauce. Because if some pasta dishes taste better than others, it's also a matter of physics. Unione Italia Food always reminds us of this, suggesting rules so as not to make mistakes. The first? Look at the format. Because each shape has a different ability to "trap" the sauce: the lines of a penna, those of a rigatone, the coils of a fusillo, are perfect for full-bodied condiments such as meat or vegetables, while spaghetti are perfect with light sauces because they envelop (the classic example, after all, is fresh tomato sauce). Similarly, a tagliatelle will never go well with garlic and oil or a tomato sauce, and - not a small detail - it can only be eaten with a fork to savor pasta and sauce at the same time. For the same reason, with snails - which go well with hearty and liquid sauces, such as those with potatoes or legumes because they "welcome" them inside them - a fork would be wasted: you need a spoon to take everything in one go. "A single element, even a small one, changes everything," points out Unione Italiana Food. The touch of class? Use tricks that make a difference: to stay with the simplest example, keeping a tablespoon of cooking water for the final creaming of garlic, oil and chili pepper creates a dish that is a masterpiece.
Time goes by and we don't stop loving them: spaghetti remains at the top of the list of pasta shapes favored by Italians. The most versatile, the tastiest, the most popular, and it is no coincidence that they are also the most celebrated in cinema. Unforgettable, just to mention the most famous, are the scenes of Totò who in Misery and Nobility eats them with his hands standing on the table, and of Alberto Sordi who in An American in Rome is "provoked" by the dish left in the kitchen, and then enjoys it telling with his expression of a culinary passion that distinguishes us in the world. The one for spaghetti, and for pasta in general: an ingredient that deeply characterizes the Mediterranean Diet, for which we are world leaders in production, with 3.6 million tons that come from the best pasta factories in the world, and also for consumption, with 23 kilos per person per year.
This is recalled by Unione Italiana Food, which brings together Italian pasta makers, which has seen fit to take a snapshot of our tables by publishing a new ranking: after the favorite traditional pasta dishes, now also the shapes. By processing Nielsen IQ data, it identified the five most popular among over 500 formats and delved into how preferences change in the various Italian regions, each with its own recipes and each with its own eating habits. In particular, the survey covered four areas: North-West (Piedmont, Valle d'Aosta, Liguria, Lombardy), North-East (Trentino-Alto Adige, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Emilia-Romagna), Centre (Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, Lazio, Sardinia), South (Abruzzo, Molise, Puglia, Campania, Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily.)
Spaghetti in the first place, as we said: they are a constant, in any part of Italy. In second place are pens. Together they make up 78% of all pasta sold in Italy, in their various forms. To be clear, this percentage also includes spaghetti and spaghetti penne rigate together with the smooth ones (those so reviled during the pandemic, yet so loved, especially in the south). From third place onwards, Italy begins to divide: the north (west and east) prefers fusilli while the center prefers short pasta such as mezze maniche. In the south, on the other hand, in fourth place is pasta for broths and soups, with mixed pasta occupying most of the section. In fourth place, the situation is (almost) the opposite: in the North (west and east) and in the South, short pasta wins, while fusilli conquers the Centre. Positions rebalanced in fifth place: pasta for broths and soups predominates in the North while rigatoni/tortiglioni win in the Centre and South. To make everything clearer, I have schematized the top 5 in these lists:
Italians' favorite pasta shapes - North-West and North-East
Spaghetti
Pens
Fusilli
Short pasta
Pasta for broths and soups - mixed
Italians' favorite pasta shapes - Centro
Spaghetti
Pens
Short Pasta
Fusilli
Rigatoni
Italians' favorite pasta shapes - South
Spaghetti
Pens
Pasta for broths and soups - mixed
Short pasta
Tortiglioni
Lists that tell how Italy changes: every city, every village, its recipe, with some timeless classics that have made the history of cuisine and that also say a lot about the perfect pairing between pasta and its sauce. Because if some pasta dishes taste better than others, it's also a matter of physics. Unione Italia Food always reminds us of this, suggesting rules so as not to make mistakes. The first? Look at the format. Because each shape has a different ability to "trap" the sauce: the lines of a penna, those of a rigatone, the coils of a fusillo, are perfect for full-bodied condiments such as meat or vegetables, while spaghetti are perfect with light sauces because they envelop (the classic example, after all, is fresh tomato sauce). Similarly, a tagliatelle will never go well with garlic and oil or a tomato sauce, and - not a small detail - it can only be eaten with a fork to savor pasta and sauce at the same time. For the same reason, with snails - which go well with hearty and liquid sauces, such as those with potatoes or legumes because they "welcome" them inside them - a fork would be wasted: you need a spoon to take everything in one go. "A single element, even a small one, changes everything," points out Unione Italiana Food. The touch of class? Use tricks that make a difference: to stay with the simplest example, keeping a tablespoon of cooking water for the final creaming of garlic, oil and chili pepper creates a dish that is a masterpiece.
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