Apostate

I fully allow that I am out of step with many of my friends on this. I try to be even-handed and impartial, but often I have walked into the minefield, towing the elephant I’m trying to find a room for and by the time I realise where I am, there’s no way back out without detonating a few bombs, which often get me at least as hard as they hit everyone else.

There are certain subjects that it is wiser just to ignore, particularly on the internet: if you comment, you automatically upset someone whether you mean to or not and if you do, the process of extraction generally upsets someone else. The best you can do is just sit and observe.

I fully respect people’s right to like pasta, though I do get baffled when they refuse to recognise that appearance apart, there is very little difference between the pastas. Spaghetti is not a million miles removed from Swabian noodles and size and shape apart, tagliatelle is much the same thing. So when people get restive and espouse the superiority of one pasta over another in some kind of dogmatic rant, I tune out.

I am more than happy for people to like pasta or not. It is all the same to me.

I despair of people who deny me the right to be dismissive of pasta; particularly those with a slavish devotion to one of the many recipe books over the others available. Like it or not, all pastas are much the same; the way you serve it and the sauce you use does not change this fact and there is no reason to get upset by the fact that and refuse to allow that someone else might prefer a burger.