This is Planet Money from NPR.

Daddy, how long will it take for you to invent this pasta that you've been talking about?

Is it feel like it's taken a long time?

Yeah, because long, long time ago you were talking about it and now it's still here when you're trying to invent it.

Dan Pashman, that is you and your daughter Emily.

And she is talking with you about this quest you have been on to invent a new pasta shape.

That's right, Jacob.

Yeah, I have actually spent the last three years and many thousands of dollars and many sleepless nights trying to invent a new pasta shape.

And you've been talking about this recently on the podcast that you host, a food podcast called The Sportful.

And obviously I love a podcast stunt as much as the next person, but I do want to ask you why this stunt?

Why are you trying to invent a new kind of pasta?

Well, first off, I mean, I've been hosting a food podcast for 11 years.

The show is largely driven by my opinions about food.

And yet, I'm not a trained chef and I started to come to realize that I've never actually made anything.

You know, like I messed around in my kitchen, but do I actually know what I'm talking about?

Like, are you for real?

Right. Like, do I know anything? Or am I just another guy with a microphone?

And like, why pasta? Well, as much as I love pasta, Jacob, I think there's a lot of mediocre shapes out there.

You know, I want a pasta shape that will pick up a lot of sauce that I can really stick my teeth into that will stay on the fork without too much trouble.

And one that will be interesting and varied to eat over the course of the entire bowl.

Not a pasta that's just a one note song that may be good at the first bite and boring by the fourth bite.

And while there's a lot of good shapes out there, I think it's very hard to find one that checks all those boxes.

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