# Not twirling pasta -- is this supposed to be cool? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 31, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532 "2006-10-31T02:07:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/21 "2006-10-31T13:59:01Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] Mind you, lots of people don’t seem to know how to try their socks on without taking their shoes off, either (just wrap the sock around your closed fist, thumb inside fingers: the socks that circle your fist just-so are the ones that are right for your feet). [/QUOTE] Trying socks on? Do socks come in individual sizes in Spain? US socks _claim_ to, but I’ve never seen (women’s) socks come in anything more than the labelled “US 9-11”. To me, socks are socks. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/22 "2006-10-31T14:08:24Z")
Wait, you guys twirl it with a spoon? How does that even work? I have a hard enough time with a fork. I can’t imagine how you’d pick it up with a spoon. Not that I care much, I don’t eat spaghetti often. If I’m eating long noodles I’m generally using chopsticks. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/23 "2006-10-31T14:11:48Z")
I don’t order spaghetti in restaurants EVAH and I rarely prepare it at home anymore. It’s mostaccioli all the way, baby. Solves the unsightly problem of sauce on the blouse. I mean, why wrestle with your food if you don’t have to?? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/24 "2006-10-31T14:12:42Z")
[QUOTE=Jayn\_Newell] Wait, you guys twirl it with a spoon? How does that even work? I have a hard enough time with a fork. I can’t imagine how you’d pick it up with a spoon. [/QUOTE] Collect some pasta with the fork. Place the tines of the fork into the bowl of the spoon so that they are perpendicular to it. Rotate the fork keeping the tines in contact with the spoon. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/25 "2006-10-31T14:15:04Z")
Using a spoon to twirl your pasta allows you to better regulate how much pasta you’re twirling onto your fork. Using the plate you’re pretty much going to get however much pasta is caught on the tines of your fork to the depth of the pasta on your plate. Using a spoon, you can use your fork to scoop up however much pasta you want, then apply fork to spoon and twirl. This way you are not left with a giant bale of pasta that you now have to find a tactful way of shoving into your mouth. I learned from a pretty early age about twirling my pasta and have done it ever since. I just can’t eat it by shoveling it in wholesale. It’s messy and uncouth. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/26 "2006-10-31T14:21:49Z")
Oh, okay. I had some other picture in mind. Obviously I was never taught properly. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/27 "2006-10-31T14:26:26Z")
I simply switched to farfalle once I moved out and got my own kitchen. Problem solved. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/28 "2006-10-31T14:39:06Z")
[QUOTE=Rilchiam] Well, everyone’s free to do as they like. But ramen noodles are small; I don’t think you **can** twirl them. OTOH, letting a forkful of spaghetti dangle in front of your face, biting off a swath and letting the rest fall (ugh, **Joey P** , really!), looks really crude. [/QUOTE] Which is why I cut it. Or just use a different type of pasta whenever possible. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/29 "2006-10-31T15:00:49Z")
I hate any pasta that is long. So no spaghetti, angel hair, fettucini, etc. for me. It’s all about ziti and rigatoni and radiatori and wagon wheels and shells and such. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/30 "2006-10-31T15:02:53Z")
How do Italians eat spaghetti? I asked a question about it (in one of many threads that have since been deleted), and one of the responses was they just fork it up and eat it. Twirling seems to be mainly an American convention. But I’ve never been to Idaly, so I can’t attest to it personally. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/31 "2006-10-31T15:40:35Z")
[QUOTE=Earl Snake-Hips Tucker] How do Italians eat spaghetti? I asked a question about it (in one of many threads that have since been deleted), and one of the responses was they just fork it up and eat it. Twirling seems to be mainly an American convention. But I’ve never been to Idaly, so I can’t attest to it personally. [/QUOTE] I think you’re right, at least about the [spoon](http://www.drdaveanddee.com/pasta.html). Americans tend to put a lot of sauce on their pasta so twirling is a way to keep it from splattering everywhere. It’s also done against the curve of the plate if spoons are not provided. Or for that matter against the flat of the plate which is how it’s done in Italy. This from the [New York Times](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9F07E1DA1238F93AA25756C0A964948260) today: \*\*As to the use of a fork plus a spoon for eating pasta, all those at the table were adamant. Spoons are for children, amateurs and people with bad table manners in general. \*\* I still like to use a spoon because it gets the pasta above the fray. I don’t need to conquer real estate on the plate for the purposes of twirling. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/32 "2006-10-31T15:46:39Z")
[QUOTE=Rilchiam] It just foams up and dribbles down my front. At least it used to, until I gave up trying. I don’t know how to let the liquid flow into my mouth and avoid the foam. [/QUOTE] Bring the bottle to your mouth and set the rim on your lower lip. This lip will curl somewhat around the outside of the rim, at the bottom (towards the ground). Place your upper lip **inside** the rim at the top (towards the sky). The liquid flows in below your upper lip. The upper lip can be ever so slightly pulled away from the inside edge of the rim to allow air into the bottle. When the bottle is tipped to allow flow, any foam should go up inside it, away from your mouth. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/33 "2006-10-31T15:50:14Z")
**Earl** , my paternal grandparents emigrated from Sicily, making my father is a Sicilian-American, and I’m half Sicilian-American. We all either twirl with a spoon or on the plate if a spoon isn’t at hand (light on the cheese; no cheese with seafood sauces). I won’t say this is the ‘official’ Sicilian way, but it’s authentic enough for me. My maternal grandmother (a Southerner who moved to NYC as an adult with her three young girls in tow) would cut up her pasta. Until my father entered the scene, it was something she rarely, if ever, ate. My mother learned how to handle long pastas. ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/34 "2006-10-31T16:12:57Z")
I was told by an Italian friend (not Italian-American) that they don’t use a spoon in Italy. That that custom belongs to the US much like the type of pizza sold in America. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/35 "2006-10-31T17:05:31Z")
[QUOTE=CBEscapee] I was told by an Italian friend (not Italian-American) that they don’t use a spoon in Italy. That that custom belongs to the US much like the type of pizza sold in America. [/QUOTE] Yep, using a spoon is completely UNcool. Italians just use a fork against the plate for twirling. Using a spoon removes the pasta from contact with the sauce which is just silly. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/36 "2006-10-31T17:40:36Z")
[QUOTE=Bippy the Beardless] Using a spoon removes the pasta from contact with the sauce which is just silly. [/QUOTE] To think of the shame I have saved myself by not learning the spoon! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/37 "2006-10-31T17:47:19Z")
[QUOTE=Gary T] Bring the bottle to your mouth and set the rim on your lower lip. This lip will curl somewhat around the outside of the rim, at the bottom (towards the ground). Place your upper lip **inside** the rim at the top (towards the sky). The liquid flows in below your upper lip. The upper lip can be ever so slightly pulled away from the inside edge of the rim to allow air into the bottle. When the bottle is tipped to allow flow, any foam should go up inside it, away from your mouth. [/QUOTE] Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/38 "2006-10-31T18:00:04Z")
My son (11 years old) tries to eat his spaghetti by leaning over his plate, lifting the noodles and fork just enough to get them in his mouth. The spaghetti ends are still on the plate :rolleyes:. I say “tries” beause I yell at him when he does this. So in ten years, when you’re wondering why kids have come up with an even worse spaghetti-eating technique, you’ll know why: It’s to get back at their dads. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/39 "2006-10-31T18:13:51Z")
The reason I don’t like twirling on the plate is pretty simple: The sound of fork tines scraping on a plate is roughly the equivalent of fingernails on a blackboard to me. I don’t know if anyone else is afflicted with this particular skeeve, so maybe I’m just weird. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532/40 "2006-10-31T18:15:42Z")
[QUOTE=D\_Odds] **Earl** , (light on the cheese; no cheese with seafood sauces). [/QUOTE] Yah, I just ate a dish with mussels, calimari and crab and they put cheese in the sauce. It just doesn’t work. I ended up adding lemon juice to it to cut the heaviness of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-twirling-pasta-is-this-supposed-to-be-cool/378532.md?page=3)