And these delightful little shapes, mixed with the cheesy sauciness of various complementing ingredients, create sheer culinary magic and can be customized to suit the taste buds of almost anybody anywhere.
Types Of Pasta
While there are about 350 different types of pasta shapes, all can be broadly categorised into the following basic shape types.
- Long – As the name suggests, this is the category for all those noodle-like long shapes. This includes angel hair, fettuccine, fideo, lasagne, linguine, spaghetti, tagliatelle and vermicelli, etc.
- Tube – This category comprises pipe-like pasta which is rolled with a hollow in the middle. This includes pipe rigate, elbow macaroni, penne, rigatoni, tubini etc.
- Soup – This variety of pasta comprises the small variety where the individual grain of pasta, shaped in any form, is very small in size. This includes pastina, acini, orzo etc.
- Stuffed – Obviously, refers to the variety of pasta with stuffing like ravioli and tortellini.
- Special shape – This is a generic category for all those miscellaneous shapes that cannot be categorised under the above types. These include rotini, farfalle, gigli, tripolini, gemelli, etc.
The Market Worldwide
Adaptability is one of the most compelling reasons that the dry pasta market is a different entity with a life of its own and a growth trajectory that is quite unparalleled. With an expected annual growth rate of 2.3%, this market is expected to touch USD 12.3 Billion globally by the end of 2027. Owing to the universal appeal of pasta, this growth will be spread across the world with China, the second-largest economy in the world, expected to see a growth of 4.1% annually till the end of 2027.
The Recent Growth
Everything changed in 2020 – we can all agree that calling this year a master game-changer would be no hyperbole. From travel & tourism to hospitality and education, no industry has been untouched by the drastic events of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the food industry has evolved so much that it will never be the same, experts say. What started from social distancing and stay-at-home initiatives, eventually evolved into cook-at-home and eat smart mentalities across the world.
Families, cooped up in their homes for months together, rediscovered the joys of cooking and that itself started a whole new market of pantry goods such as DIY meal kits, etc. Due to this phenomenon, the dry pasta market has also seen a recent surge – which shall continue well into 2027 – both in the commercial as well as the domestic segment.
Although the restaurants may be contributing less towards the overall sales, the whole “Buy Global, Eat Local” campaign has added layers to the domestic segment which look like they will soon be overtaking – and not just making up – for the lost commercial sales in this segment. Well, we aren’t complaining either – after no one can have too much pasta anyway!
