Are you a Pasta Grannie🍝 or a Pasta Girlfriend 🍷?
A little over a year ago, I discovered one of my most beloved Instagram accounts: @pastagirlfriend. Pasta Girlfriend was created and operated by Ali LaBelle, a creative director, artist, and brand strategist based in LA. Her creative eye is one of my favorites online, and I have a sneaking suspicion that she is from Minnesota (or has some roots there) which only adds to my obsession. She started Pasta Girlfriend in 2017 as “a pasta appreciation project” and a space to channel all that chewy, gooey, and salty love. As a fellow lover of pasta and aesthetically curated Instagram accounts, I was attached the moment I found the account. Since my discovery of Pasta Girlfriend, I recently discovered another new obsession: @PastaGrannies. Pasta Grannies is a similarly pasta-obsessed account that celebrates the pasta-making stories of Italian grandmas all over the world. Both accounts are nostalgic and mouth-watering in very different ways.
Upon discovery of Pasta Grannies, and inspired by the latest Sustainable Baddie article going live Monday, I was left wondering — what are the differences and the intersections between pasta grannie and pasta girlfriend? If I am neither girlfriend nor grannie can I be either? Can I be both grannie and girlfriend? Or am I simply a pasta person?🍝🧠 Let’s dig in:
Who is a Pasta Girlfriend?
To me, Pasta Girlfriend represents much more than simply one woman’s passion for Pasta. The appreciation of the Pasta Girlfriend identity signifies the Gen Z shift away from diet culture, and towards a more food-neutral world where hot girls can and should be eating pasta. You might be thinking… you got that from THAT? To which I respond: yes.
If you scroll through the account you will find a variety of pasta-related images. Included are artistic interpretations of pasta, gorgeously plated pasta, and pasta-centered tablescapes. Most notedly, sprinkled throughout the entire account are images of beautiful, fashionable, and famous people enjoying gorgeous plates of cheesy, saucy bucatini, ravioli, fusilli, and macaroni. These are the Pasta Girlfriends. They are the new generation of people who not only eat pasta but who look hot doing it. I don’t think you need to be a girlfriend to be a pasta girlfriend. I think you are more likely to be a pasta girlfriend sans partner. A true pasta girlfriend is concerned with little more than the pasta in front of her (or they or him if you are Harry Styles). To put it simply, a Pasta Girlfriend is someone who cares about the finer things in life (Tauruses to the front) and isn’t afraid to indulge. They understand that good food is more important than a good credit score. And that carbs are not only a life-giving source but also a LIFE giving source (you know what I mean?). I am a Pasta Girlfriend. You are a Pasta Girlfriend. We all deserve to be Pasta Girlfriends.
Who is a Pasta Grannie?
Now, Pasta Grannies are a little bit different. I made my argument in the above section that anyone can be a pasta girlfriend, but I do not believe that everyone can be a pasta grannie. In fact, I believe it is quite hard to be a pasta grannie. Pasta Grannie started as an archive and celebration of pasta making. The creator, Vicky Bennison, is an author and food writer who recognized that the art of making pasta is no longer being passed down to younger generations. As we, specifically women, explore careers or ways of life beyond the traditional domestic one, the tradition of pasta making is losing interest. Bennison made Pasta Grannies to keep this tradition alive and to celebrate the complex culinary practice of making pasta.
To be a Pasta Grannie one must be well versed and knowledgable in making pasta, first of all. Second of all, Pasta Grannies have earned their title with years of hard work and culinary wisdom. I believe to assume that we all can be Pasta Grannies (in the way we can all be Pasta Girlfriends) would ignore or overlook the years of dedication these Grannies have invested in making pasta. That being said, if you dream of a world in which you are a pasta grannie, I believe it can happen for you. Pasta Grannies (the brand), is also making it possible for us all to strive to become Pasta Grannies by making pasta recipes, traditions, and histories accessible.
Is there a world where we are both Pasta Girlfriend and Pasta Grannie?
In short, yes. If you currently identify as Pasta Girlfriend, I believe that the natural next step is to grow into a Pasta Grannie. Being a Pasta Grannie takes practice, but more than that it takes passion and love. If you are a Pasta Girlfriend you are abundant in pasta passion — now all you need is commitment and practice. So get a Pasta Grannie cookbook. Invite your pasta girlfriends over. Grab your flour and your eggs. Open a bottle of wine. Get your tomatoes roasting. It’s time to make some pasta🍝
Who is Karl & Why Are We Honoring Him?
If you are keeping up with high fashion recently, or like me: just happen to have a subscription to the Vogue newsletter, you may have learned that this year’s Met Gala theme is “In honor of Karl.” When I first saw the headline show up in my inbox: This Just In! The 2023 Met Gala Dress Code Is Announced, I was intrigued and excited. Last year’s theme, Gilded Glamour, was controversial but brought forward some fairly stunning looks (Rhianna’s fit will live in my mind forever). I thought to myself… this year could only be better. However, I was not moved by this chosen theme: "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty." Maybe this is a hot take, but frankly, I’m disappointed. It seems to me like we are, yet again, honoring a white man.
“In Honor of Karl” is intended to memorialize and celebrate the work of designer, creative director, and artist Karl Lagerfeld. A german designer who worked with tons of the biggest fashion houses like Chanel, Fendi, and Chloe. Lagerfeld, unfortunately like so many men in positions of power, has a long list of controversial histories steeped in fatphobia, racism, classism, and all other -isms that I thought we were trying to move away from. Aren’t we bored yet? Haven’t we seen this one before? Can we just simply try something different? But I simply feel unconvinced that so many creative minds and artistic thinkers couldn’t agree on a theme that was not only more topical, but more interesting, more unique, and so much more liberatory than Karl. As high fashion progresses in areas of body diversity, gender diversity, multiculturalism, and sustainability there are so many more impressive themes to choose from. In an industry that has a deep history of profiting off of women while male leadership manipulates their bodies and minds behind the scenes, it feels tired to give the center stage to a man yet again.
I can only hope that the line-up of co-chairs: Dua Lipa, Michaela Coel, Penelope Cruz, and Richard Federer (lol🎾) Will ideally make for an exciting event and hopefully expand and explore the intersection of vintage and modern fashion. Hopefully, there will be an appropriate acknowledgment of the way that fashion has morphed and changed and how it is on track to being a more inclusive, and sustainable industry.
P.S. Word on the street is that the Met Gala team was deciding between this and a climate theme… and they went with… Karl?
