MIT Scientists Engineer Shape-Shifting Pasta

Have you ever wanted your food to look like a hockey stick or a violin? Soon those dreams could become a reality. MIT released research in May of 2017 that shows its researchers have begun to engineer pasta that can change its shape.

The pasta begins as flat films of gelatin and starch, and when submerged in water, it morphs into its 3D shape. Reports by scientists Wen Wang and Lining Yao explain that the difference in densities of two layers in gelatin facilitates the process. This allows the pasta to naturally expand when it absorbs water, and as one layer absorbs more water than the other, the top layer curls over its counterpart. Fortunately, the intensity of the curl depends on the density of the gelatin, making the pasta even more easily customizable. To accomplish this, scientists added cellulose, an organic compound that makes up everything from plant cell walls and vegetable fibers to the gelatin pieces within the pasta. Here, the cellulose acts as a water barrier for the gelatin, thus controlling the amount of water to which the gelatin is exposed. The cellulose gives scientists the ability to create different structures: controlling the exposure to water via the cellulose allows for the shape to be programmed through a computer application so that one can ‘personalize’ the shape of one’s pasta.

This advancement of food technology makes it easier for chefs to enclose food inside pasta, especially foods that are much smaller, such as caviar. When caviar and a gelatin strip are placed in water, the strip may trap some of the caviar inside as it expands. Though this may not seem to affect cooking processes for the common person, it could, eventually and after some tinkering, change how people cook. The prospect of a new type of creativity in the food realm and a sense of control (over the noodles) in rapidly changing and difficult times can even provide an artistic outlet.

On the practical side of things, these new noodles could revolutionize how food is shipped around the country, because it would significantly reduce shipping costs. “[A scientist] did some simple calculations, such as for macaroni pasta, and even if you pack it perfectly, you still end up with 67% of the volume as air,” says Wen Wang. On the other hand, if noodles were shipped as flat strips, then there would be significantly less empty space in the shipping boxes. As time is one of the most valuable resources known to man, being able to ship more packages of pasta at once would increase efficiency and save time.

Though scientists are still far from making programmable pasta for commercial use, it is incredibly fascinating how computers and programming can change our world in unexpected ways.