Slim pasta, tried and tasted

I was supposed to take a picture of my slim pasta supper to show you – but in my complete excitement, I forgot.

I got the call yesterday to say my 200g had arrived and was in the health store’s fridge with my name on it. That was the first shock because I hadn’t realised it was a fresh food needing refrigeration.

When I collected it, I further realised that 200g was just one portion. And when I read the cooking instructions, which start with: “Pour plenty of hot water over your pasta to remove the starchy smell” I wondered what I was letting myself in for.

The next step is to heat the pasta in an open pan (no water) for two to three minutes, or a microwave for one minute. Then you “throw it into the sauce or stir-fry of your choice”.

Slim pasta is produced by a company called Eat Water, and it is made from 97% water with Moyu (konjac), a natural vegetable fibre that the body doesn't absorb. Konjac is an Asian root and the rice and pasta produced with it have what the manufacturers call a chewier texture than normal rice or pasta.

Already cynical, I had planned to disguise any unpleasantness with several cloves of garlic and quite a bit of chilli. This I added to an oil-less tomato sauce which I stirred some broccoli into – and then the “pasta”.

I don’t know what I was expecting when I took my first mouthful – but what I got was a flashback to my recent visit to Archipelago. For that is the only place I can imagine serving anything quite like this – and it would be a plate of worms if they did.

I have never eaten earthworms, and don’t plan to, but if I have ever imagined what they would taste like, this spaghetti was it. Slightly crunchy (quite different from al dente, note), and jelly-ish inside, though mercilessly pretty flavourless, they slipped down quite easily – the garlic, tomato and chilli successfully helping me to get through the whole 200g.

Steve was too grossed out by the thought of this fake food to try it – and stoically plodded on with another tomato salad, and several boiled eggs. He is wondering why he ever agreed to join me in this regime, and moans about it every fast day. But I bet it will not be him who gives up first.

I was hoping the pasta would be the answer to my twice a week dilemma about what to eat. But, while it was certainly filling – I wasn’t hungry after it – I rather thought the sauce and broccoli would have been nicer on their own.

Some nutritionists claim that vegetable extract konjac – also known as Moyu – can stabilise blood-sugar levels and prevent hunger pangs and over-eating. But according to the Daily Mail, Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum, warns: ‘Konjac is an appetite suppressant and people will eat it thinking they will get slim but might not be aware they could be starving themselves of nutrients.’ On balance, I think that is not a great worry on two 500 fast days a week when I am loading up with fruit and vegetables at other meals. But I can see this would be a big risk for anyone who gets sucked into trying to live off Konjac to lose weight.