The art of pairing pasta and sauce is often misunderstood. This week on Taste Matters, Mitchell Davis talks noodles with Maureen B. Fant, author of the recent Sauces & Shapes: Pasta the Italian Way with Oretta Zanini De Vita. Tune into this episode to hear how Maureen’s classical studies brought her to Rome, and thus was transformed into a pasta expert. Find out why certain pasta shapes are often served with sauces of a particular consistency. How did Maureen work with Oretta Zanini De Vita to transmit her encyclopedic knowledge of Italian cuisine and history? Find out what surprising recipes and cooking techniques are included in the book considering the dogmatic reputation of Italian food. How do Italian food traditions keep the family together? Find out all of this and more on this week’s edition of Taste Matters! This program has been brought to you by The International Culinary Center.

“If you have spaghetti, which has a lot of surface area, you want a liquid sauce that coats the strand… If you have something very solid with cauliflower for example, you would never use spaghetti. But it’s all essentially the same stuff!” [9:45]

“If the recipe calls for one garlic clove, six aren’t going to make it better!” [26:00]

— Maureen B. Fant on Taste Matters