We performed this experiment in high school chemistry and it has remained with me as one of my deepest aha moments. It has become fashionable in foodie circles

We performed this experiment in high school chemistry and it has remained with me as one of my deepest aha moments. It has become fashionable in foodie circles to mock the idea of adding oil to boiling pasta so as to prevent stickiness. The argument against seems to be that oil floats and cannot possibly affect the pasta, unless you add so much that the pasta becomes slimy. But I maintain that a drop of two in boiling water is enough to coat all the pasta in a single layer of molecules. The agitation of the water spreads the oil evenly as a kind of colloidal suspension. All these fancy restaurants with elaborate methods to avoid sticky pasta.