Why twirl spaghett?
By coffeebreak
@coffeebreak (17798)
United States
February 9, 2008 6:38pm CST
I see it, I hear it. Twirl the long spaghetti noodles around the fork, do not cut the noodles! First thing I think of, is the I Love Lucy episode where she is eating spaghetti while Bill HOlden watches her and she first, twirls and gets nothing, then twrils and gets a huge ball and the third time twrils and goes ahead and puts it in her mouth only to have Ethel have to pull out her manicure sicissors and cut the noodles so Lucy can get the pile in her mouth.
Then I think, WHY? I mean, why not cut the noodles, get a nice bite scooped on the fork and eat like a human being instead of a cow chomping on hay with it all hanging out it's mouth while it is chomping!?!?
So, you tell me...why not cut spaghetti noodles? Why twril them around and around and around until you get enough on the fork to STAY on the fork and then try to push the big ball of pasta into your mouth?
2 people like this
8 responses
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
10 Feb 08
Don't you just hate it when some people try to tell other people how to eat,as if their way is the only way. Jonathan Swift satirized that nicely, do you recall, when he sent Gulliver to a place where the citizens constantly argued over which end of the soft boiled egg it was permissible to bite into first. I would have simply taken away all of their eggs until they learned to play nicely.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
10 Feb 08
NOt trying to tell anyone how to eat, quite the opposite! I'd just like to know how they do it and why! Cutting is so much easier and more controlable.
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
10 Feb 08
Oh, I didn't mean YOU! I mean the twirlers, lol. No, I love your discussion. Please don't think I meant to sound snippy! Usually I save my snipping for the spaghetti, lol. Hubby doesn't like his long, so after cooking somstimes I cut it up with the cooking shears. :)
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
10 Feb 08
Well, I wasn't sure, just didn't want anyone to think I was! I'm a snipper too...well, a breaker...I'll break the noodles in half as I cook them! Then me and fork are friends.
@arkaf61 (10881)
• Canada
17 Feb 08
IN my opinion twirl because it is easier to get on the fork and keep it on the fork that way. At least for me.
No big ball either. I choose how much I want twirled on my fork which is a normal amount and take it to my mouth. If I have trouble twirling it I can use the help of a spoon, but there is usually no trouble.
ON the other hand, the cut spaghetti is what sometimes can give some trouble since it keeps falling of the fork with nothing to hold to.
I have never had the spaghetti hanging out of my mouth although I suppose it can happen if the person is not paying attention to what he/she is doing. The same way that one can stab oneself with a fork if one is not looking:)
Of course it requires some motor skill, but my kids mastered it with no problem:)
@arkaf61 (10881)
• Canada
18 Feb 08
I sometimes break it in half to cook too, specially if I am using a small pan.
After cooked I might only break it in smaller pieces if it has some sauce that will keep them together without sliding from the fork.
But for me it's much easier to have it longer and roll - but small pieces :)
I know what you mean about slurping. ONe of my son's friends used to do it like that and for some time my son was trying to imitate him although he could do it the right way. It took me a bit to get him to stop that silly habit:)
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
17 Feb 08
Sounds like a talent you have mastered! I just break in half to cook and then use the fork to cut in bite size piexes that stay on the fork...nothing to roll off! Just have fun watching my GD slurp hers!
1 person likes this
@whittby (3072)
• United States
10 Feb 08
It's an art that some folks never master. First of all, I don't order spaghetti in a restaurant usually unless it's fettucini alfredo and I love that so much I can't resist. The fettucini seems to be a little easier to twirl though. With so many choices to order when you're out - rigatoni for instance, I wouldn't feel deprived. And, of course, we eat spaghetti so often at my house, I get more than enough of it. Now at home, they all cut it up. I've given up with the twirling hints. I think if you cut it up, you should do small portions so you don't have this gross mass of cut up stuff on your plate. However, my family cuts the whole mess up at once. I give up...Whit
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
10 Feb 08
Whether I eat out or make it myself, I will only cut up 2-3 bites at a time. DOn't know if it makes a differnece, but my mind says it will stay warmer if it is all together as opposed to being cut up waiting to be eaten! Probably not an issue, but just a thing with me.... okay, i admit, it is also easier to take leftovers home if you just slide all the long noodles into the container, than to slide a bunch of bite size into the container!
@my52cents (569)
• United States
10 Feb 08
I'm not a twirler, I'm a cutter. And when I cook spaghetti, I actually break the strands in half so that I have to cut even less often. So I'm not traditional, but I'm with you with the cow chomping word picture. And I remember that Lucy episode, too!
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
10 Feb 08
I'll break them to the size of the pot I am cooking them in. If it is for husband..oh forget that, he doesnt' eat anything I cook, but for the kids, I use a small pot as I am not cooking as much, so I break the noodles in third's. The kids love to slurp the noodles - childhood memory and all - so I will leave them a little longer for the fun they have with it!
@chrislotz (8137)
• Canada
15 Feb 08
I don't know, this way it isn't supposed to spleash back. Anywyas, I don't eat my spaghetti this way. I just cut it into small pieces and eat it. I use a knife and just cut the spaghetti on my plate. When I cook spaghetti I break them in half before putting them in the pot. This way they are not too long and it is easier to cut them up on my plate. If I had my way I would break them up even smaller but my hubby likes them longer.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
17 Feb 08
Same here. Although my husband refuses to eat anything I make so I make it for me and my grand daughter and just break them in half so she has the childhood fun of slurping them and I just use a knife or jsut the fork to cut bite size pieces!
@dodoguy (1292)
• Australia
10 Feb 08
Hi coffeebreak,
To be perfectly honest, I have never had the patience to do the "twirl" thing, because it seems a very inefficient way to get what I want from my plate into my mouth.
It's also a very messy food-handling method in my experience. There's almost no control over what that "twirled" spaghetti might decide to do in the space between the plate and your mouth.
So I just choose to cut up spaghetti into manageable portions, and administer their consumption in the same way as any other food item that I might target for attention during a meal.
It appears that the kiddies have got the upper hand on this one. Who said kids were dumb?
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
10 Feb 08
Yes, what the noodles decide to do in the space between the plate and your mouth - is the main reason I dont' twirl! That and it is just to much work to get it a proper size bite on a fork! At least for me...
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
10 Feb 08
I heard that it was bad luck to cut Asian noodles. But with spaghetti I don't know if that is true too.I thrill my spaghetti on my fork, without the use of a spoon,and eat it. I get enough on my fork and then I don't have to slurp it up to my mouth.I am the only one that twills it in my family. My mom used to cut it with a knife and fork before she ate it.I must have been adopted or Italian in a previous life.
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
10 Feb 08
No. There were knives before forks. And Asians use chopsticks to eat their noodles so I don't know why.
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
10 Feb 08
Maybe it all came into play many years ago when there wasn't table knives available. No knife, no way to cut so just twirl!
1 person likes this
