Wednesday, 1 pm. Lunch break, at work. We’re thoroughly analysing the pasta dish made by our friend with a lot of passion. Does it contain onions? Pine nuts? A bit of potatoes?! A colleague suddenly break our conversation with wise, provocative, thought-provoking words:

“We are the pasta generation.”

This made us giggle. Then it made me wonder:

“Are we actually the pasta generation?”

The LondonY investigates.

I carried out a survey targeting a pool of young people from all over the world living away from their parent’s house, including Greek, Cypriot, Polish, Italian, Iranian, Norwegian, English, Lebanese, French and Romanian people.

And I was surprised by the results.

I was expecting the vast majority of young people to answer this question with: 4 times a week or more. I was wrong. 47 % of the people surveyed eat pasta once to zero (yes, zero) times a week. While only 24 % of them eat pasta 4 times a week or more.

So I wanted to go deeper in the analysis. Why do so many young people eat so little pasta? I asked the concerned eaters.

And the results started to make more sense. Out of these 47 % of people who eat pasta once a week or less:

• 38 % of them used to eat pasta every day. Then they got bored of it and went through rehabilitation therapies to recover from their pasta addiction (It’s a metaphor).

• A healthy 25 % of people eat so little pasta because of dietary requirements (gluten intolerant, low-carbs diet, avoiding the beef temptation through the pasta bolognese temptation…)

• 13 % lucky people can cook so many different things they have never been pasta dependant,

• And finally a weird shocking 25 % of low pasta eaters don’t like pasta. (I can visualise the disbelief expression on your Italian friend’s face…)

But how do these results compare to the Generation X older people born before the 80s? How many times a week do they eat pasta?

Generation X

The results are a bit less surprising here. Older people are a bit more skilful and experienced at cooking different things. They are also more health conscious and want to cook dishes which are a rich source of vitamins for their kids.

So, to conclude, are we the pasta generation?

To conclude: 41 % of Generation Y people went through pasta dependency at some point in their young lives, but 18 % managed to recover (Ex-pasta addicts). Pasta rehab sessions recovery is the new trend (in a metaphoric way).

Some people never had pasta addiction problems due to the ability to have a healthy diet because they can cook different dishes or because they have to for dietary requirements. These are the Pasta Balanced Happy People (P.B.H.P).

And some people, believe it or not, just don’t like pasta (No pasta lovers).

To answer the article’s question, we are a “temporary” pasta generation. We are a fast changing generation. We self-reflect and do change our habits, and are optimistic and wise enough to believe (and understand) there is life after pasta.

Having said this, here are the best simple homemade pasta tips from avid pasta lovers. Hope you enjoyed this article, and happy pasta eating. Ciao for now.