di Kantha Shelke
The future looks bright for pasta. Pasta is everything that today’s consumer wants. Pasta is convenient, quick, healthy, versatile, affordable, and pleases the entire family. Pasta is adaptable for every culture; nearly every nation has an iconic pasta dish. And the good news is that opportunities abound to make this perfect food called pasta even more perfect.
In the Greek legend, King Midas used a complicated knot to tie his father’s ox cart to a post. An oracle prophesied that the one who untied the cart would rule the kingdom. For many years the knot remained and the kingdom has no leader. Then, one day, rather than trying to untie the knot, young Alexander simply cut the knot with his sword and became a brilliant military commander and King of Macedon.
We have several such Gordian knots in the pasta industry that we need to cut in order to make progress. Innovation is crucial, especially when conventional wisdom alone cannot solve these problems.
Historically, market trends have influenced innovation in a measured way. Consumer insights trigger near-term innovation but a fair measure of technology is needed to propel longer-tem innovation. A number of notable developments are driving innovation and disruption in the realm of pasta.
Clarity and transparency: Cleanliness may be next to Godliness, but transparency about what goes into a food and how it is made goes a long way to make a company more trusted. Pasta makers stand to benefit immense market trust (and growth) by helping people understand how sophisticatedly simple pasta is in the way it is made and in the way it can be prepared.
Free-from philosophy: Consumers are shunning one ingredient or another without any scientific basis for their choices. The free-from demand seems insatiable and it may behoove pasta makers to embrace alternative ingredients as a way to expand the category of pasta from made with just durum semolina and wheat to a growing category by also including other legumes and cereals that do not contain gluten.
Naturally “natural”: Purposeful healthy eating and targeted nutrition are growing the demand for superfoods. People are increasingly demanding foods that are as close as possible to what’s found in nature. Food science and technology along with innovative processing are driving innovative ways to deliver health and wellness benefits. Incremental innovation happens with a click or two to the left or right of a mainstream offering and helps expand the category of pasta into new uses and eating occasions.
Minimal processing: People believe minimally processed foods are naturally better for them. That few foods are as minimally processed as pasta is a story just waiting to be shared with the world.
Vegetables and plant-based foods are the rage today. Combining vegetables and plant-based proteins into pasta products are opportunities just waiting to be reaped. The quest for nutritionally superior alternatives is a springboard for launching a wide range of pasta products that also touch upon other market trends and consumer needs. Sprouted seeds and grains offer enhanced nutrition in pasta. Pasta, especially fresh pasta, are a viable platform for probiotic bacteria, and a way a comfort food like pasta to become even more comforting to the gut and to the digestive system too. Fiber has an even greater potential to be a destination ingredient in the selection of pasta. Manufacturers can use fiber to enhance the nutritional content of pasta based ready meals or for meals in quick service restaurants. Plankton, algae, and seaweed are expanding the net being cast for pasta and what accompanies pasta on a plate. These ingredients span a wide range of applications ranging from sustenance to gastronomy with taste, texture and a spate of additional nutritional benefits.
Food is never just about what we put in our mouths. The opportunity to innovate on the pasta front is more than just developing new products. It is an invitation to look at challenges with a fresh new perspective and to apply what’s worked in other realms and walks of life.
Insect based nutrition is one such point. Locusts, grasshoppers, spiders, wasps, worms, ants and beetles are not on most European or US menus but at least 1,400 species are eaten across Africa, Latin America and Asia. It could be just a matter of time before insects become an ingredient in mainstream pasta and also to supplement diets of people around the world.
Technology diffusion efforts will be as important as developing new technologies and should promote wide adoption of best available technologies for efficient production, storage, and use of pasta. A recently developed concept of transformative appetite, where edible 2D films made of common food materials can transform into 3D food during cooking is the foundation for an innovative kind of pasta. This transformation process is triggered by water adsorption and the ‘flat pasta’ can substantially reduce shipping costs and storage space. Simple calculations showed two-thirds of the volume of pasta packages is air. With 3-D printing one can make flat, stackable pasta that develop shapes upon hydration. In addition to savings from lower shipping and storage costs, consumers can store a lot more pasta in their pantries, so one never runs out of pasta.
Instantizing pasta is another innovative way to expand the pasta horizon. For consumers this means a shelf-stable food that can be prepared instantly for new eating occasions like breakfasts and snacks. With packaging and ingredient technologies, instantized pasta can be a new, healthy snack offering in vending machines and possibly a portable hand-held food for those on the go.
The future is a matter of choice, not chance.
We live in interesting times where consumers are increasingly pro-active, educated, and defining new products and benefits, and where technology rarely leads to sustainable advantages unless they resonate with consumer emotions. Future-proofing pasta means educating consumers, especially young children, about what’s real and accurate about pasta and the ingredients and technologies used to make pasta. Education can go a long way to help future consumers make wiser food choices without being deterred by misinformed influencers and also help the pasta industry not be continually hijacked by ill-informed activists with little or no background in nutrition, food science or technology.
Pasta is a platform for international growth for a food that’s really good. The science of food is an essential ingredient and can propel pasta even further in the marketplace. It is important to focus on the mind of the consumer, educate them about what’s honestly healthful, and stay engaged so as to not get blindsided by the future. Viva la Pasta!
Kantha Shelke, PhD, is a principal at Corvus Blue LLC, a food science and research firm specializing in industry competitive intelligence, and development commercialization of foods and food ingredients for health, wellness, and safety. She is the author of the recently published Pasta and Noodles: A global history (Reaktion Press).
