This Is What Pasta Sounds Like, According to a Scientist and the Composer of 'The White Lotus' Theme Song
That's one sweet sounding pasta.
You likely know precisely what a heaping bowl of pasta smells and tastes like, but have you ever considered what it sounds like? Barilla partnered with one seriously cool scientist and one unbelievably accomplished composer to find out.
On Wednesday, the pasta company released its Al Bronzo Soundtrack, a bespoke musical score designed specifically to amplify your pasta-eating experience with the brand’s Al Bronzo pasta using what’s known as “sonic seasoning.” It’s a term used by Oxford experimental psychologist Charles Spence, M.A., Ph.D., who has long studied how sound affects our taste buds. (And who we previously spoke with about the effects of sonic seasoning on flights, and just which headphones to wear to enhance your dining experience at 30,000 feet.)
“It's really nice to work with Barilla to bring the research to life,” Spence shared with Food & Wine. He explained that through his research, he was able to match different pasta types and sauces to “sonic qualities,” including matching high-pitched and fast tempos, distorted noise, and “bright and loud” sounds, which he handed over to his composer. And that composer happens to be three-time Emmy Award winner Cristobal Tapia de Veer, whose work you may recognize from the earworm that is The White Lotus theme songs from seasons one and two.
Related: The Instant Way to Make Your Airplane Food Taste Better, According to an Expert
Tapia de Veer then took all that raw data and translated the work into six tracks, all available at AlBronzoSoundtrack.com and on Spotify so you can listen and taste for yourself. The audio tracks are tailored to each Al Bronzo pasta cut — Bucatini, Mezzi Rigatoni, Spaghetti, Penne Rigate, Fusilli, and Linguine. As Barilla shared in a press release, each track is meant to “elicit a distinct visceral reaction with every Al Bronzo bite.”
“The Al Bronzo Soundtrack is the first time I’ve been asked to musicalize the sensory impressions one experiences when consuming food, and it’s been a delightful experiment,” de Veer added.
Spence was equally delighted, telling F&W, “Obviously, I'm not a musician, nor am I a chef, but we were able to work with Cristobal, who can take the scientific findings about sonic seasoning and turn them into tracks. That's the kind where the magic happens.” He added that the research “... deserves a musical mastermind capable of a wide range of auditory composition to achieve the full potential of this incredible sensory pairing.”
To celebrate this new release, Barilla is also giving a lucky group of fans the chance to win a limited-edition vinyl record version of the Al Bronzo Soundtrack. The prize also includes recipe cards and tasting instructions. Fans can enter now through 11:59 p.m. EST on April 10 at AlBronzoSoundtrack.com.
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