I love pasta, it has to be my favourite food and it’s probably what I eat too much of. The first Quibi show that grabbed my attention, that wasn’t the upcoming Barkitecture series, was Shape of Pasta and it is a pleasant and insightful watch.
Shape of Pasta follows chef Evan Funke (Chef at LA’s Felix Trattoria) as he adventures to regional parts of Italy to find different and unique shapes of pasta that haven’t made their way outside of Italy. The important part of the show is Funke’s desire to keep these shapes alive so that they don’t become lost as these regional towns start to disappear.
The series’ episodes are short, as it is required to be on Quibi, but the format fits well for the production. The subject matter isn’t something that I could see myself sitting down and watching a whole length documentary about but short bites of these shapes and their history are inspiring an insightful as I think I take pasta for granted if that’s a thing. Funke’s journey most likely means a lot to the people in these towns and hopefully will inspire many to have a go at making these other shapes.
So far I haven’t found myself wanting to watch the drama series/films in portrait mode but Shape of Pasta I feel I could watch in either mode. The series is shot beautifully and the Italian landscape always looks good when shot well, you’re getting the full experience in landscape but you’re still getting most of it in portrait. Shape of Pasta’s style and mission makes it worthy of your time.