17.12.2025

Ig Nobel Prize 2025 for Perfect Pasta Sauce

ISTA Postdoctoral Researcher Fabrizio Olmeda Accepts the “People’s Nobel Prize” The Ig Nobel Prize recognizes research that first makes us laugh, then makes us think. Its 35th award ceremony also whets the appetite: ISTA physicist Fabrizio Olmeda and his colleagues discovered the secret to a perfect cacio e pepe pasta sauce. They received the popular award for their findings on Thursday evening in Boston, USA.

Fabrizio Olmeda with the Ig Nobel Prize.

Fabrizio Olmeda wins the Ig Nobel Prize.

Cacio e pepe is one of Italy's most popular pasta dishes, but preparing the perfect creamy sauce can quickly go awry, even for (Italian) scientists. Fabrizio Olmeda, a physicist at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) in Klosterneuburg, Lower Austria, also struggled with this – until he got fed up with trial and error and tackled the problem scientifically. Together with colleagues (all Italian) from the Max Planck Institute in Dresden, the University of Padua, and the University of Barcelona, he set out to uncover the secret to the perfect sauce, ensuring it would turn out perfectly every time.

For this groundbreaking and delicious insight, the team received the Ig Nobel Prize in Physics on Thursday evening in Boston, USA. The prize recognizes surprising research achievements that first make us laugh, then prompt reflection. He celebrates the unusual and imaginative, thereby sparking fascination for science, medicine, and technology.

"Investigating phenomena that fascinate me"

ISTA postdoc Fabrizio Olmeda chose statistical physics in the field of complex systems as his research area because it allowed him to apply theoretical physics to a wide range of disciplines, from biology to sociology. "My motivation will always be to investigate phenomena that fascinate me, even if they lie outside my field of expertise, the physics of single-cell genomics," says the newly minted Ig Nobel laureate. "Despite increasing specialization, I believe that even in my usual research area, it can be beneficial to take some time to explore something unusual. I think this award reflects this idea, as its motto, 'Laugh first, think later,' can inspire people to embrace science."

Martin Hetzer, President of ISTA, emphasizes this point: “A mentor once told me: As long as you enjoy what you're doing, you're doing it right. The Ig Nobel Prize is a wonderful recognition of this credo. At first glance, the question of how to perfectly prepare Cacio e Pepe pasta might sound amusing. But genuine, curiosity-driven research brings together creativity, perseverance, precision, and enjoyment. And it repeatedly leads to insights that have the potential to improve our world – on a large scale through innovations or on a small scale on our plates.”

Tasty science: The perfect Cacio e Pepe pasta.

What's simmering in the lab? The recipe for delicious research

And this is the essence of the award-winning study published in the scientific journal Physics of Fluids: Simply mixing the usual ingredients – pecorino, pasta water, pepper, and pasta – often results in a lumpy, mozzarella-like sauce. Why? The starch in the pasta water is meant to help emulsify and stabilize the sauce, but it's rarely enough on its own. When the temperature rises above 65 degrees Celsius (149 degrees Fahrenheit), the cheese proteins denature and clump together, causing the mixture to deteriorate.

The researchers discovered that the key to the perfect sauce is the right amount of starch. Simply stir starch powder (2–3% of the cheese mass) into the water until it becomes clear and thickens. Then, mix this gel with the cheese at a low temperature so that the starch binds to the proteins and prevents clumping. Finally, season with pepper as usual. Mix the pasta with the sauce in the pan, adding a little pasta water if needed to achieve the right consistency.

Ingredients:

4 g starch (potato or corn starch)
40 ml water (for dissolving the starch)
160 g Pecorino Romano cheese
240 g pasta (ideally tonnarelli)
Pasta cooking water
Black pepper and salt (to taste)

The research question about the perfect pasta is just one of countless questions and topics that have been and continue to be pursued at ISTA in Klosterneuburg by excellent scientists from around 80 countries. A selection of these—including the now award-winning pasta research—will soon be available for visitors to explore at the VISTA Science Experience Center. The center, located in the heart of the ISTA campus, will open with a festival from October 3 to 5, 2025. Admission is free.

Publication: G. Bartolucci, D. M. Busiello, M. Ciarchi, A. Corticelli, I. Di Terlizzi, F. Olmeda, D. Revignas, V. M. Schimmenti. 2025. Phase behavior of Cacio e Pepe sauce. Physics of Fluids. DOI: 10.1063/5.0255841