"The existential journey through a bowl of pasta" Wix AI

"In essence, "existential pasta" is a blend of profound feelings and the mundane, showing how the simplest things can trigger deep philosophical thought" Google AI

My blog post title, which sent me on a Google search, is one of the Wix AI suggestions that I wrote down as having potential. Wix don't provide these hints anymore, which is rather sad in a way, although they were becoming marginally repetitive. But they made me smile every now and then. However, I could search for an AI suggestion if I wanted to. But I don't, because apart from anything else, I actually wrote down quite a lot of them which I look at from time to time.

My opening quote comes from my Google search for 'existential pasta' - the AI bit that's always at the top of the search results page these days. Well AI suggested this post and AI never seems to be flummoxed by any question you throw at it. But AI wasn't alone in having an answer - there were other things to look at. Who knew you would get anything? I mean how absurd to think of pasta and existentialism in the same sentence.

In fact I wrote this particular one down because it sounded so extremely absurd, and yet - those French existentialists of the mid 20th century - Sartre and Camus were the ones I studied - noted, as part of their philosophy, the central concept of the absurd. In Sartre's words:

"It is absurd that we are born; it is absurd that we die ... If I didn't try to assume responsibility for my own existence, it would seem utterly absurd to go on existing"

He came to his conclusions after a time staring at the roots of a tree, which he describes in his book La Nausée (Nausea). I remember it as being very compelling - and indeed created a kind of nausea in myself. If you are interested you can read the whole passage in this article on Medium. I imagine it as being like one of those moments when you are staring at something mundane and your eyes glaze over, and your brain empties. Just for a moment.

Fundamentally I guess Existentialism says that existence - not just of us - but of every living thing - actually everything whether living or without life - has no meaning. It just is. We do not exist before we are born, we do not exist after life. Maybe in people's memories for a while, but not in a physical sense. Although that does beg a whole lot of other questions. It's a very frightening thought, and Existentialism is generally regarded by most of us as gloomy in the extreme - and associated with beatniks dressed in black - like modern day goths.

In some ways it's a less positive version of Descartes 17th century 'Cogito ergo sum'. Or as AI (again) puts it:

"if one is capable of doubting their existence, that very act of doubting or thinking proves their existence as a thinking entity."  AI

Although I suppose, in these early days of AI the AI program has scraped that thought from somewhere else.

Descartes was French too. The French are a deeply philosophical lot. Many of their greatest literary exponents were also philosophers to a lesser or greater degree. So I wonder if it is a coincidence that they are also very much into food and will discuss the intricacies of what they are eating, as they eat, with their dining companions. Even in everyday, ordinary households.

I say the Existentialists were less positive but, in fact, they regarded themselves as free - free to make of their lives what they wanted to make of them.

“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does”Jean-Paul Sartre

And so, he maintains, he will never commit suicide.

“The absurd man will not commit suicide; he wants to live, without relinquishing any of his certainty, without a future, without hope, without illusions … and without resignation either. He stares at death with passionate attention and this fascination liberates him. He experiences the “divine irresponsibility” of the condemned man.” Jean-Paul Sartre

But what on earth has all this got to do with pasta? Well once again I turn to AI - which might seem lazy and trivial, but which I think, in this case, seeing as how this whole thing came about because of AI, is appropriate. Although one could go down a wormhole when considering whether AI actually exists.

AI splits the expression of 'existential pasta' into three different trains of thought.

1 "Existential pasta" refers to pasta that brings comfort during moments of existential dread, as seen in social media posts and articles"

Existential dread being the nausea of realising that existence is essentially meaningless unless you make it so. You are nothing and mean nothing. And at such moments one turns to things that make you happy - and, let's face it, there's probably not anything much better than enjoying a meal with friends and family, especially if it's pasta, which wraps you in a warm hug of familiarity and love. And especially if it's in the open air.

Which brings me to AI's no. 2:

"Or it refers to philosophical questions about the meaning of food and eating."

So many things that can be said on this topic, and I've probably said them all at some time or another. The meaning of food and eating - well it keeps us alive, it gives us something creative to do, it brings us together and leads to communication with others and understanding too. It teaches us about other cultures - well all those things I talked about in my food curriculum series - and to which I shall return shortly. Or as some would say, on a higher level, it gives religious and spiritual meaning to life, or provokes memories of happy times, and people too.

Number 3 - "It can also be used humorously to describe a food-related crisis, such as the debate over the "correct" way to strain pasta, which can feel like a profound questioning of one's reality" 

What AI is referring to here is this shot from a TikTok video of a guy telling us that this is really how we should strain pasta. We've been doing it all wrong since forever. Fundamentally instead of pouring the water into a sieve - balanced over the sink in my house - you put the strainer a colander or a sieve, that fits into the pasta pan, into the pan and pour through the sieve. Looks tricky to me. Somebody said it saved on washing up, but I can't see that. The point is that apparently vast numbers of people got super excited - even troubled about this because they had been told they were doing it all wrong. I suppose there are occasions when you suddenly discover that there is another and better way of doing something, but that's probably not worth getting excited about it.

A better example of getting over existential dread in a food related way - when you are really, really down, is to eat a Mars bar - or have a glass of wine. Which is being flippant I suppose because a Mars bar will not get you over a major disaster in your life. Although, that said, many people do indeed turn to food - too much and of the wrong kind sometimes - in times of deep distress.

So let me return to the initial AI proposal - "the existential journey through a bowl of pasta", which to my mind is more to do with the actual sensation of being presented with the bowl of pasta - a perfect bowl of cacio e pepe like this one perhaps - and thinking about its meaning in terms of existence. Your existence.

You might feel satisfied, joyous even because you made the pasta, you cooked it, you made the sauce and you presented it in a beautiful bowl on a beautiful tablecloth. Eating it, will give more joy and satisfaction because of the taste. It will be even more meaningful if you are eating it in the company of those you love. And cacio e pepe is such a soothing - some would say bland taste as well. You might recall eating it elsewhere - in a Roman taverna in the company of friends - when your husband had just lost his phone, but it was miraculously found, by calling its number on a friend's phone, in the hands of a man called Aristotle in a beautiful church where the choir was practising. These things are precious and meaningful and thereby ease the existential dread at the fundamental meaningless of the life, the universe and everything. Not to mention all the history on a plate thing.

Or of course it could be a disaster - you burnt it - or some other such cooking mistake. You had a row at the table with your nearest and dearest. You spilt it all over your beautiful tablecloth or dropped it on the floor ... Food is not always the answer to a meaningful existence, although maybe the way you react to the disaster is. It's certainly up to you. And it certainly doesn't mean that the stars are aligned in the wrong way or God is angry because you said something mean ...

And do you know I found another website - still under construction - called Existential Pasta - coming soon it says. Apparently it's a company that's going to create professional logos using AI. I wonder why they picked that name.

I know this picture is about couscous, but it could equally well apply to pasta, and it illustrates the gloomy side of existentialism perfectly well. But that's not really what either the Existentialists or myself are trying to say really. I think we should be grateful for the chance to enjoy existence. We just have to rise to the occasion.

"what's the meaning of life - the answer to this question is both elementary and infinitely complex. You have the answer, you just have to own it." Ethics Explainer

YEARS GONE BY

September 10

2024 - Comfort - a moveable feast - another sort of coincidence

2023 - Classic - apple pie

2022 - Nothing

2021 - Nduja

2020 - Missing

2019 - Nothing

2018 - When you've got nothing else to do ...

2017 - A word from Belinda Jeffery

2016 - Future farming in the sky