# Eating raw pasta **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 2, 2008, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094 "2008-07-02T20:37:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/1 "2008-07-02T20:37:24Z")
Are there any problems associated with this? I have heard several claims about it, the least unlikely being that it can cause a worm infection. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/2 "2008-07-02T21:02:35Z")
The only thing I can think of is the use of raw egg in making pasta, but I could be mistaken. Out of curiosity what would be the circumstances under which one would be forced to consume raw pasta? ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/3 "2008-07-02T21:51:27Z")
Many commercial brands of dried pasta only contain enriched flour and (before they were dried) water. Where would the worms be? What kind of worms? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/4 "2008-07-02T21:59:31Z")
[QUOTE=Hazle Weatherfield] The only thing I can think of is the use of raw egg in making pasta, but I could be mistaken. Out of curiosity what would be the circumstances under which one would be forced to consume raw pasta? [/QUOTE] In my case, acute laziness. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/5 "2008-07-02T22:06:55Z")
[QUOTE=Hazle Weatherfield] The only thing I can think of is the use of raw egg in making pasta, but I could be mistaken. Out of curiosity what would be the circumstances under which one would be forced to consume raw pasta? [/QUOTE] Not forced, but some people enjoy it. I used to eat raw dried spaghetti as a kid, I loved crunching and sucking it. That is just flour and water, no egg. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/6 "2008-07-02T22:07:31Z")
I have a friend who likes the crunch, she eats it as a snack. No ill affects so far. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/7 "2008-07-02T22:24:19Z")
Are you talking about wheat weevil larvae? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/8 "2008-07-02T22:34:25Z")
Hard commercial pasta was consumed by all us kids. My one brother was responsible for mother never having spaghetti when she wanted to use it. Nobody got sich from it. ---
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/9 "2008-07-02T23:03:42Z")
Raw Pasta; for when you run out of fingernails. I find it gives me gas; BAD gas. Cause? ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/10 "2008-07-03T00:42:56Z")
I had a friend when I was a kid who introduced me to raw ramen - crunch up the package, open it, dump some of the seasoning packet in, shake to mix, and eat. It was OK, but I couldn’t ever finish a whole package. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/11 "2008-07-03T00:56:00Z")
[QUOTE=chaoticbear] I had a friend when I was a kid who introduced me to raw ramen - crunch up the package, open it, dump some of the seasoning packet in, shake to mix, and eat. It was OK, but I couldn’t ever finish a whole package. [/QUOTE] Ramen is not really raw out of the package. The ramen noodles are fried prior to being packaged. This is not the case with things like spaghetti noodles. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/12 "2008-07-03T01:02:37Z")
My god how lazy are you people that you can’t cook some pasta for pity’s sake?! Please don’t tell me you think it tastes better than cooked pasta! There really is no hope for humanity, is there? ---
**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/13 "2008-07-03T01:12:45Z")
I can’t resist having a couple of raw Butoni (sp?) raviolis while waiting for the water to boil. My wife continues to tell me how the package plainly says “cook before eating,” but I do find them awful yummy. No ill effects as of yet. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/14 "2008-07-03T01:19:00Z")
[QUOTE=Kinthalis] My god how lazy are you people that you can’t cook some pasta for pity’s sake?! Please don’t tell me you think it tastes better than cooked pasta! There really is no hope for humanity, is there? [/QUOTE] Until this thread, I didn’t know there were so many others like me. I too have eaten raw pasta on many occasions by choice. I like it. I DOWN RIGHT LIKE IT! Stands cautiously. Claps build. The chorus starts: "Ive paid my cents - Time after time - Ive sucked my spaghetti But committed no crime - And bad mistakes Ive made a few Ive had shards kicked in my face - But Ive come through We are the champions - my friends And well keep on chomping - till the end - We are the champions - We are the champions No time for cookers cause we are the raw pasta champion eaters - of the world -" ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/15 "2008-07-03T01:23:15Z")
Yep. My grandma used to tell me, “Don’t eat raw spaghetti, it’ll give you worms.” This would have been in the 1960s; she was born in 1900. Possibly less-than-pristine manufacturing conditions for mass-produced spaghetti before we had the whole “untouched by human hands” mindset, and various local, state, and federal agencies peering over the shoulders of food producers might have given rise to the “worms” factoid. Pinworm eggs can be spread from an infected person onto objects, so if during the manufacturing process the spaghetti was handled by people with pinworms, then yeah, you could have gotten worms from spaghetti. Found [this.](http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/117217/a_short_history_of_spaghetti.html) > [@](#): > > _The first American commercial outfit for the production of pasta was run by Antoine Zerega, who opened his factory in Brooklyn in 1848. He dried his product on his roof in the sunshine, and powered his machinery by one horse, which he kept in the basement._ ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/16 "2008-07-03T03:05:32Z")
[QUOTE=Kinthalis] My god how lazy are you people that you can’t cook some pasta for pity’s sake?! Please don’t tell me you think it tastes better than cooked pasta! There really is no hope for humanity, is there? [/QUOTE] As noted it was in childhood. We got pop once a week. We got chips and other treats once a week. The pasta was something we could snack on that wasn’t flour or sugar or a raw potato. Are you seeing why we snuck pasta? There wasn’t much in the house that we could eat, when it wasn’t a regular meal time. At meal time you didn’t dawdle, or you were out of luck. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/17 "2008-07-03T03:28:36Z")
[QUOTE=Kinthalis] My god how lazy are you people that you can’t cook some pasta for pity’s sake?! Please don’t tell me you think it tastes better than cooked pasta! There really is no hope for humanity, is there? [/QUOTE] I, too, like it on its own merits. I munch on it all of the time while cooking the rest of the package. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/18 "2008-07-03T09:15:54Z")
Could there be a danger of the pasta swelling painfully in your stomach, if you ate enough? I once ate a fair portion of undercooked rice (I must have been hungry…) and found myself with pretty bad stomach-ache for a while after. ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/19 "2008-07-03T09:54:18Z")
Semi related post A cruel practical joke involving raw pasta… 1. Tuck a piece of raw pasta (macaroni works well) into your mouth 2. Causualy walk into a room holding your victems small pet 3. Say something like “I just saw this great internet site on doing chiropractic adjustments on your pets!” 4. Pretend to twist the animal’s head (just slide your hand in a rotating motion over the pet’s head) 5. Simultaniously bite down on the macaroni, making a wet “CRUNCH!” noise Look shocked! Then DUCK! This macaroni in mouth technique also works well when pretending to “crack own neck, fingers or other body parts”, if you know a person who is squeamish about such things… Enjoy FML ---
**Author:** ![Coil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Coil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coil)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094/20 "2008-07-03T10:33:52Z")
Pure evil **Full Metal Lotus**. I like it. FTR I am also an eater of raw pasta (the dry kind). Been doing it since I was small and no ill effects so far. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-pasta/455094.md?page=2)