The rarest pasta in the world: only three people alive can make it

[boingboing]

Originally published at: The rarest pasta in the world: only three people alive can make it | Boing Boing

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[Grey_Devil]

The process reminds me, very broadly speaking, to how dragon’s beard is made.

Eating (and Breathing) Dragon’s Beard in Singapore

I would assume that the difficulty for this pasta is way way higher because getting the right consistency with the dough takes a high level of experience. I’d never heard of this pasta and it looks pretty amazing. I’d hope that someone is interested enough in learning how to make it, would be a shame if it disappeared.

[fuzzyfungus]

@boingboing

Unfortunately, su filindeu is in danger of going extinct. All three women who can make the pasta are past 50 years old, and no younger family members or even neighbors have the “passion and patience” to learn the painstaking technique from them.

The fact that this thought occurred to me is probably damning; but if one wanted to be the Larry Summers of cultural heritage preservation it seems like it would probably be pretty doable to round up a whole bunch of candidates to learn a painstaking technique that produces a desirable product from among the depressingly large number of people whose painstaking efforts leave them at or below subsistence.

[eccentriccog]

Now I want to make a lab technique to identify the properties of the pasta so that you can measure out the different elements that need to be right (mostly by systematically getting them wrong)

[capnjimbo]

That’s nothing. I can make pasta that I doubt even three people in the world would have the ability to digest.

[DenverLett]

My gnocchi turned out like that.

[FMera]

@boingboing

… and no younger family members or even neighbors have the “passion and patience” to learn the painstaking technique from them.

And thus, America.