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Clay meets cuisine at Pasta Patera
“Pasta was invented in China,” says Elisa Bozzarelli, making heads turn at Pasta Patera, a pottery and pasta-making workshop spread over two weeks.
The eight of us sitting around a table in the Cibomatto Cafe within St Anne’s House, exchanged perplexed glances before continuing to listen keenly to our mentor for the evening.
A popular tale about pasta travelling to Italy from China with Marco Polo along the Silk Route has dominated folklore for years. While there is no firm evidence to verify this theory, it is known that millet-based noodles were first introduced in China as early as 4,000 years ago, with these noodles bearing a strong resemblance to modern-day pasta shapes like spaghetti and capellini.
is needed now More than ever
Wide smiles and full bellies were evidence of the workshop’s success
Behind Elisa is a framed map of Italy, which she refers to repeatedly while telling us about her roots and those of the undisputedly delicious parmigiano reggiano. Elisa is leading one half of this workshop, which had commenced two weeks ago with a class in pottery throwing and making our own pasta bowls, led by Dan Broadbent of Community Pottery.
The eight of us huddled around the large table in the centre of Dan’s pottery studio, as he walked us through some of the basic pottery techniques: Ram’s head wedging, pinching, throwing and more.
Dan, in the course of the next three hours, takes us on a whimsical journey of falling in love with our hands as they work their way through soft clay, shaping them into beautiful, almost perfect, pasta bowls.
While some of us – including me – have our clay thrown off the wheel almost instantly, a few words of caution and advice from Dan help us get right back on track. By the end of the session, each of us have our bowls ready, which over the next two weeks would be fired and glazed, eventually becoming the vessels for our handmade pasta.
Navy blue was one of the many glaze colours available to pick from
Both pottery and pasta-making are rooted in the humble idea of creating unique art from scratch using bare hands. Wet, messy clay moulded into shapes on a wheel or firmly kneaded dough cut into desired pasta shapes. Both art forms present a deep ocean of possibilities for whoever is willing to dive into them.
Unlike Dan, who leans on narratives and anecdotes to teach his tricks of pottery, Elisa’s teaching is rooted in traditional brilliance. She can feel the dough and tell you whether it’s ready to rest or if it needs more kneading. Her entire body seems aware and ingrained with the process of pasta-making.
Teaching us how to make two shapes of pasta all’uovo’ – or egg pasta – alongside two dreamy sauces, Elisa makes many of us at the table want to invest in a pasta machine right away.
When our pasta was ready to be served, Dan broke the news. All our bowls had survived. With no cracks and breaks, they were now fired, glazed in our chosen colours, waiting to be filled with scrumptious pasta.
The pottery studio, where we’d been preparing clay for the wheel two weeks ago, is now the setting of our triumph. We’d waged the war, created art and now it was time to reap the fruits.
A group of novices somehow managed to create wholesome and delicious bowls of pasta at the second part of the Pasta Patera workshop
Dan and Elisa are at the head of the candlelit table, while the rest of us sit around it, proudly gazing at our self-made bowls set in front of us. As we tuck into the pasta, oohs and aahs filled the room, with almost everyone in disbelief that this was made by eight beginners. Conversations ensue, laughter follows and as promised at the start of the workshop, we leave with memories, a pasta bowl and full bellies.
Dan, who previously held workshops under the name Wild Pottery, started Community Pottery with his partner Raphaela Seck in July 2024. Coincidentally, a month later, Cibomatto moved from Cafe 5 in Easton to St Anne’s House. Soon, Elisa and Dan connected over their respective art forms and were left with the idea of this two-part workshop, where clay meets cuisine.
The Community Pottery hosts regular pottery courses and workshops through the year that are led by Dan and his partner, Raffaela. Details can be found here: https://www.thecommunitypottery.co.uk/
Other than running regularly as a cafe, Cibomatto is also known for hosting a diverse range of workshops.
This article first appeared in the Bristol24/7 September/October 2025 magazine
Main photo: Karen Johnson
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