一詞：奶茶店、咖啡廳的吸管越來越不環保，於是現在有可以吃的吸管了

n. 意大利麪食

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圖片來源：Stroodles

Roughly 8.5 billion plastic straws are used in the U.K. each year, but as a new ban takes effect next April, that number will shrink to zero. 

英國每年大約使用85億根塑料吸管，但明年四月實施一項新禁令之後，使用吸管的數量就會減少至零。

One startup is hoping to corner the market for alternative straws using an unlikely material: pasta.

一家初創企業希望用一款另類吸管來壟斷市場，這種吸管是用一種難以想象的材料——意大利麪製成的。

“It ticks all the boxes in terms of functionality as a plastic straw that everyone’s been used to growing up,” says Maxim Gelmann, founder of Stroodles, the startup. 

“它就像我們成長過程中習慣使用的那種塑料吸管一樣，擁有其全部功能，”Stroodles這家初創企業的總裁馬克西姆·格爾曼說道。

The straws, made by an Italian manufacturer that also produces regular pasta, are the same shape and size as a standard plastic straw. 

這種吸管是一家意大利生產商生產的，該廠商還生產普通的意大利麪。這種吸管的形狀和尺寸與標準塑料吸管的相同。

Unlike a paper straw, they don’t taste like wet paper; they don’t change the flavor of the drink. They last at least an hour, and longer in colder drinks. 

它們不像紙質吸管那樣，嚐起來就像潮溼的紙一樣；而且它們也不會改變飲料的味道。它們至少可以持續使用一個小時，如果用來喝冷飲的話，使用的時間會更長一些。

“Let’s say you have your gin and tonic and then you refill it with ice, it goes even longer,” Gelmann says. 

“例如，你要了一杯金酒加湯力水，然後你又加了冰塊，這種吸管就可以使用更長時間，”戈爾曼說道。

If you’re nursing a drink for hours and the pasta eventually softens, you can choose to eat it (the raw straw is also edible, and Gelmann says that some people snack on them).

如果你一杯飲料喝了幾個小時，這根意麪做的吸管最終會軟化，你可以選擇吃掉它（未使用的吸管也是可以食用的，而且戈爾曼表示，有人把這種吸管當零食吃了）。

A handful of other pasta-straw startups also exist, though Stroodles is hoping to differentiate itself with a smoother, more plastic-like texture and its branding. 

雖然Stroodles公司希望用更光滑、更像塑料的材質來使其產品和品牌具有差異化，但市面上還有其他幾家意麪吸管的初創企業。

It’s more expensive to make than a plastic straw, but at large volumes, it can compete with the cost of paper straws. 

生產意麪吸管的成本比塑料吸管的要高，但大批量生產的話，其成本與紙質吸管的成本相當。

Because of the coming ban, “no one really compares [us] with plastic anymore,” Gelmann says. “They compare [us] with paper straw prices, which makes my argument much easier.” 

因爲即將執行的禁令，“沒人再拿‘我們’（的價格）與塑料吸管做比較了，”戈爾曼說道。“他們拿‘我們’的價格與紙質吸管作比較，這使我更容易說服他們。”

Other alternatives, like bamboo or stainless steel, are more expensive and arguably a less elegant solution; some bars say that patrons don’t trust the idea that stainless steel straws can be fully sanitized. 

其他的替代品，例如竹製吸管或不鏽鋼吸管更貴，而且可以說是一種不那麼簡單的解決方案；一些酒吧表示，客人們不相信不鏽鋼吸管能完全清洗乾淨。

Another option—a plastic-like edible straw made from seaweed—may be more of a competitor.

另外一種類似塑料的可食用吸管是用海藻製成的，這種吸管也許會是一個強勁的競爭對手。

Add pasta to your salads to bump up your fibre intake. 

在色拉中加入意大利麪，增加你的纖維攝入量。

The Chinese also eat a type of pasta as part of their staple diet.  

中國人也把一種麪食作爲他們的主食之一。