‘Flat-Pack’ Pasta Only Reveals Its Shapes When Cooking To Take Up Less Packaging

By Alexa Heah, 07 May 2021

Image via Morphing Matter Lab

Most might be familiar with flat-pack furniture, but how about some flat-packed penne or fusilli?

In a new breakthrough by the Morphing Matter Lab in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, researchers have designed pasta that morphs into its real shape as it boils. At first, the pasta appears flat, similar to a fettuccine. Upon hitting the water, it then shape-shifts into 3D shapes of pasta we all love.

The researchers sought out to use this innovation to tackle the issue of packaging waste and reducing food transportation space. “We were inspired by furniture that can be flat-packed and shipped – I remember reading that IKEA can save a lot of money,” said Lining Yao, Director of the Morphing Matter Lab, as per Fast Company.

For example, for a 3D-shaped pasta such as macaroni, more than 60% of its packaging space is taken up by air.

By creating a flat-pack macaroni that only morphs into its 3D shape when in the water, less material will be needed for packaging, and more units could be packed into a single shipping container, reducing the overall carbon footprint.

In order to make the pasta shape-shift, the researchers stamped tiny, carefully-placed grooves into the dough. By doing so, the groove swells more slowly than regions directly exposed to water, causing the pasta to take its shape.

You won’t be sacrificing taste either, as the researchers found that the flat-pack pasta cooks and tastes just like normal pasta. It also appears to cook slightly faster, so you spend less time staring at the pot.

Going forward, the researchers plan to collaborate with food manufacturers to test their innovation on a larger scale.

“We want to collaborate with the food industry to really implement these vital manufacturing concepts and methods,” said Teng Zhang, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor at Syracuse University who is part of the project, as per Fast Company.