Sauce splatter fear leads young diners away from spaghetti

Fear of getting splattered with hard to remove tomato sauce is leading younger UK diners away from 'risky' spaghetti style dishes and on to 'safer' Italian food such as easier-to-eat conchegli shells and lasagne. Over the last year, sales of long style pasta such as spaghetti and tagliatelle at Tesco, the UK's top grocery retailer, have fallen by 35%, while demand for penne and conchegli has grown by 58%. In order to meet the needs of the modern British diner, Tesco has revamped its entire Italian range bringing in a wider selection of dishes that do not require the extra culinary expertise of being able to twist spaghetti around a fork. Tesco pasta range spokeswoman Kathryn Bettles said, "Unfortunately some younger British diners appear to lack the same culinary skills that their parents have which is why we've had to tailor our new range accordingly." Tesco has now brought more variety to its short pasta range, including garlic and herb filled pasta, spinach and ricotta tortellini, beef bolognese cannelloni and gnocchi.