Pasta Is Prologue

Have you ever paused to ponder perceptively the possibilities of pasta? For past periods of time, I have polished off my pasta passively (primarily farfalle, fettuccine, linguine, orzo, penne, rotelle, and ziti). Recently, thanks to Marion Cunningham’s Pasta With Green Chiles, Tomatoes and Cilantro (“Learning to Cook,” May 12), I used spaghetti for the first time in years. The pasta was positively pleasurable. Pausing to ponder, possibly perceptively, I postulated that, while pasta is presumably primarily flour, eggs and water, pasta is not pasta is not pasta is not pasta (sorry about that Gertrude!). The spaghetti was totally different from the fettuccine and linguine I had eaten previously. What is it about pasta that makes it different? It is indeed a puzzlement.

DAVID STREETER

Palm Springs