How did I become a pasta artist you ask? A few years ago, I was at my wit’s end; my son Bentley Danger, then age 5, was as picky as they come with his fickle food likes and dislikes. As someone who writes about food, studies food, makes food on TV and honed her craft during a two-year stint in Italy, this was a hard thing to stomach. It’s pretty embarrassing when you’ve assembled friends for a dinner party and your own son demands boxed mac ‘n’ cheese instead of the spread you’ve laid out for your guests.
I tried tricks—tucking veggies into smoothies, slathering them in peanut butter, the works—but Bentley never met a leafy green he couldn’t detect! As a last resort, I decided to mix pureed kale into my daily pasta dough and make his favorite spaghetti. He ate the noodles without hesitation, and the rest is history! Initially, I created every color from a different vegetable. Now, I’ve branched out into spices like paprika and fruits like blueberries so I can complete the rainbow naturally, without artificial dyes.
In the three years since that first batch of colored noodles, I’ve combined my love for fashion, textiles and art with my “pastabilities.” I’ve made pasta inspired by Murakami art, argyle layering and all sorts of emojis to name a few, so when Fabletics asked me to make one of their designs into pasta, I jumped at the chance! While I’m obviously a lover of carbs, I’m also a big fan of working them off while running, weight-training and doing combat sports.
For the Fabletics Nocturnal Floral Print I recreated here, I was really inspired by the sleek lines, pops of blue-green and the zen-moodiness of the pattern. The look reminded me of sitting by the ocean looking out at the waves under the moonlight, so I tried to capture that subtle and mysterious vibe. In order to achieve the shades, I used activated charcoal for black and blends of spirulina, kale, peas, seaweed and blueberries for the shades of blue and green (making the pasta as good for you as it is good-looking).
Getting to recreate the Nocturnal Floral Print was exciting for me because working with pasta is actually a lot like working with fabric. They both drape and fold beautifully, and with both, you have to be careful how you cut, because you’ve only got one shot!
For more on me and my work, find me on Instagram or Facebook.
Linda Miller Nicholson
