Pasta by Design [Hardcover]

George L. Legendre (Author), Stefano Grazini (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 19, 2011

An in-depth investigation of a beloved food, a celebration of the complexity of simple pleasures, and a delight for everyone who eats pasta.

Everyone loves pasta, but despite myriad cookbooks no one has ever seen the world’s favorite food presented like this. Created by a team of obsessive designers, this unique book reveals the hidden mathematical beauty that cooks across the globe have taken for granted since Marco Polo.

Pasta’s wonderful, sometimes whimsical, geometrical shapes and surfaces are designed to hold certain sauces or accompaniments, to be beautiful yet functional. Here are over ninety forms of pasta, each shown through especially commissioned photographs, mathematical formulae that accurately describe each shape, and drawings that reveal the hidden genius of our everyday food. Brief texts describe the special attributes of each form of pasta, along with advice on specific uses in cooking. 90 full-color photographs and 200 black-and-white illustrations

Editorial Reviews

Review

“For each [type of pasta], the book provides a mathematical equation, a mouth-watering picture and a paragraph of suggestions, like sauces to eat it with.” (New York Times )

“The book classifies 92 kinds of pasta, organizing them into an evolutionlike family tree.” (New York Times )

“Culinary advice on cooking these forms accompany an artistic presentation suitable for arts and culinary holdings alike.” (The Midwest Book Review )

About the Author

George L. Legendre is principal of IJP Architects in London and a leading specialist in complex surfaces.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson; Ill edition (September 19, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500515808
• ISBN-13: 978-0500515808
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 1 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #309,933 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Meaningless May 29, 2012

By Lorenzo Colloreta

Format:Hardcover

I'm Italian and into pasta industry. It could be the reason I really expected more from this book.
Actually, this is just a meaningless bunch of information with a very disappointing execution. The idea sounded nice, to represent pasta with mathematical formulas, and the initial "pasta taxonomy" tree is a good starting point. What comes next is a total waste of trees: wrong pasta names (pasta shapes are much, much more than what is represented here, and authors really don't realize names also change a lot), meaningless maths which is done only to WOW a non expert but it's only a bunch of xyz equations so long that any shape can be actually drawn in this way, there is no real interesting maths inside, and - most important to me - totally wrong and disappointing photography. Pasta is not easy to photograph, I know by personal experience, but some of the images are really worse than any schoolboy could get by playing with the camera one hour. Postprocessing is totally not professional, result is a bunch of washed out photos.

Sorry to say this, but this is a pointless book originating from a quite good idea,

Conclusion: save a tree.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hits the sweet spot January 26, 2012

By Jennifer Kepesh

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought this book for my Montessori students (grades 4-6), but it is definitely just on loan to the class. The fun for students, besides poring over the pasta pictures, is trying to graph the second and third faces that are given by a formula (one face is always shown). It's a bonus to have the pasta taxonomy laid out at the front, and the fold-out chart relating the method of creation for each of the various shapes at the back. Lots of oohing going on in class. I'm looking forward to browsing from a cook's perspective as well!

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars NEVER SAY BASTA TO PASTA! October 31, 2011

By Gail Cooke HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Best to admit bias up front: Pasta is one of my favorite dishes. For me, it's not only tasty, but totally satisfying and can be served in a myriad of ways. Now, while I thought I had a number of pasta recipes I had no idea how many different pastas there were. My cravings for that hunger busting "mixture of durum wheat flour and water" will be fulfilled for a very long time.

Principal of IJP Architects in London and a leading specialist in complex surfaces author Legendre celebrates the multitude of wonderful shapes in which pasta is found. From acini de pepe (the smallest member of the tiny pasta family, perfect for consommes) to ziti (a tubular hollow pasta often served on special occasions) each pasta is given its due. Over ninety forms of pasta are featured in remarkable phonographs that clearly reveal shapes and surfaces.

Each form is accompanied by a brief text outlining the special qualities of that pasta as well as a note on cooking it. For instance, with Linguine we find that it has a "straight longitudinal profile, solid cross section, smooth surface and edges." We read that it is the thinnest member of its particular family, and is best accompanied by "fresh tomato, herbs, a drop of olive oil, garlic, anchovies and hot peppers." A mouth-watering suggestion! It is also properly served with shellfish sauces or flavored white sauces.

In addition each pasta receives a mathematical formula describing its shape and revelatory drawings. Nothing is overlooked in this paean to an extraordinary everyday food.

I find my pasta at Manicaretti (...), Italian food importers. They offer every kind of pasta imaginable as well as superb pasta sauces.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke