CLIP (DAN PASHMAN): I'm just going to go ahead and say it. Spaghetti sucks. 

[AUDIENCE REACTS]

CLIP (DAN PASHMAN): Thank you. Yeah, yeah. Oh? Oh, it's going to get real tonight. Don't you worry.

MUSIC

Dan Pashman: There are a lot of pasta shapes out there. Frankly, I think a lot of them have issues. For years, I've dreamed of trying to do better. So on March 1st, we are embarking on a quest.

Dan Pashman: I am setting out on a mission to invent a new pasta shape.

Sally Mann: OK, good luck. 

[LAUGHING]

Sally Mann: There's pretty much everything you could think of. 

Dan Pashman: And I'm not just trying to invent a new shape. I want to actually get it made and actually sell it.

Evan Kleiman: I think this is a fascinating project and I think it's going to be so much harder than you imagine it to be.

Dan Pashman: We'll tell the story of this quest in a special series on The Sporkful, that we're calling Mission: ImPASTAble. Not everyone is on board.

Chris Maldari: I'd love to help you. I'd love to take your money. But in all good conscience, I can't tell you that you're going to get anywhere with this idea.

Dan Pashman: This project has been in the works for three years since way before COVID. Early on in the series, I traveled to the first place you think of when you think of pasta...North Dakota. 

Dan Pashman: You're separating the wheat from the chaff. 

Person 1: Yeah, yeah. I've heard about this. 

Dan Pashman: And I get inspiration from an architect who wrote a book about pasta shapes. 

Dan Pashman: What do you think the world of pasta needs? What's missing?

George Legendre: Nobody knows. The canon of pasta is open.

Dan Pashman: Then I embark on the search for a pasta company to partner with.

Dan Pashman: Because Sfoglini is already on the shelves at Whole Foods, If you make our shape, can you just put it on the shelves at Whole Foods? 

Steve Gonzalez: No.

Dan Pashman: And I refine my design for the new shape. 

Scott Ketchum: It's a complex noodle that you put together. 

Dan Pashman: I keep pursuing my dream, but new obstacles emerge, especially ones COVID hits. As problems mount, this project pushes me and my family to the brink.

Janie Pashman: I don't have excess emotions to console you over the pasta project right now.

Dan Pashman: I think I'm going to cry. Oh, I'm not sleeping enough.

MUSIC

Dan Pashman: Mission: ImPASTAble, a five-part series coming March 1st on The Sporkful.

MUSIC

Evan Kleiman: Oh, I think you'll pull it off, because if you don't, I will be relentless.