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Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

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Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

#61

Post by prepend »

jakear wrote: post #22
prepend wrote: post #18

I can buy 20 pounds on Amazon for $40. I wish the author had addressed this solution to his perceived shortage. Is this some bad brand? Are all these brands sucky? Did the author forget to google for mail order pasta? Did all these companies in Italy not work out for him? This journalist needs a journalist friend to help cover his story.

Her. The point of the article is in the writing more than the actual subject matter.

I suppose, but couldn’t the author write about how her favorite pasta is actually available through mail order?

Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

#62

Post by ggm »

twic wrote: post #60
ggm wrote: post #31

I jumped ship to Linguine, the flatness also holds more sauce than rounder non hollow pasta i find. Cooking Bucatini was proving too hard for me, and it doesn't drain well. Pasta was my staple, but has become sometimes-food now, its too easy to put on weight. De Niro is said to have wolfed down linguine to pork himself up for the La Motta role in "Raging Bull"

I'm very skeptical about the claim of bucatini holding more sauce, because the hole is on the inside, and the sauce is on the outside.

Broken up maybe? Long lengths, I'd agree.

Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

#63

Post by ljf »

jldugger wrote: post #36
Scoundreller wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a good point though. Why/how is something unsafe for an American, but safe for an Italian or Spaniard? Differing regulations and standards between countries usually makes no sense and just harms the consumer. How is a Volvo made for the Swedish market unsafe on Canadian roads? EU and Canada recently signed a trade agreement so that they won't tariff eachothers' cars, but consumers still can't buy a car from a Eu…

> It's a good point though. Why/how is something unsafe for an American, but safe for an Italian or Spaniard? America has a longstanding tradition of food fortification. Niacin is also used to supplement US diets featuring a corn staple -- corn's niacin is not bioavailable without additional processing traditional to Mesoamerican cultures. Probably more recognized today is iodized salt, which is responsible for perha…

I've no idea how much Niacin is added in America, but you can have too much. Since we don't eat much corn here in Europe, packing food unnecessarily full of this supplement could be dangerous to health:

Niacin Toxicity

Symptoms of toxicity include: Flushing of the skin, primarily on the face, arms, and chest *This side effect may occur at doses as low as 30 mg/day. Itching. Nausea. Vomiting.

Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

#64

Post by jbay808 »

Scoundreller wrote: post #26
mewse-hn wrote: post #6

At the beginning of the article I was thinking surely there are more important things to write about, but it dives down a pretty absurd rabbit hole. Especially funny is when the pasta spokesperson begins commiserating that the reporter is making more work for them.

It's a good point though. Why/how is something unsafe for an American, but safe for an Italian or Spaniard? Differing regulations and standards between countries usually makes no sense and just harms the consumer. How is a Volvo made for the Swedish market unsafe on Canadian roads? EU and Canada recently signed a trade agreement so that they won't tariff eachothers' cars, but consumers still can't buy a car from a Eu…

It seems that regulations are often a little more lax on products produced domestically.

Can we trust states with major pharmaceutical industries to regulate pharmaceuticals? Major car production centres to regulate emissions? Major chemicals companies to regulate chemicals?

I'd be a little suspicious, living next to such a country, if they insist on my adopting the regulations they wrote, which of course their industries all successfully meet to the letter.

Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

#65

Post by ljf »

freeone3000 wrote: post #33
Scoundreller wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a good point though. Why/how is something unsafe for an American, but safe for an Italian or Spaniard? Differing regulations and standards between countries usually makes no sense and just harms the consumer. How is a Volvo made for the Swedish market unsafe on Canadian roads? EU and Canada recently signed a trade agreement so that they won't tariff eachothers' cars, but consumers still can't buy a car from a Eu…

There are various regulatory trade-offs between safety and cost of compliance. For instance: Cars sold as new in Canada require daytime running lights and yellow rear turn signals, due to extended periods of low visibility. While the running lights are a requirement in Sweden, they aren't in Poland or many other European countries. There's been some effort on standardizing between US and Canada since 2016, which woul…

For those who haven't been to the US, I was blown away that some cars use brake lights as the turn indicator - good video on the set up (and issues): https://youtu.be/O1lZ9n2bxWA

Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

#66

Post by kilburn »

legerdemain wrote: post #58
userbinator wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That must be a formal legal term, although it is certainly appropriate: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/alimentary "Of, or relating to food, nutrition or digestion." "Nourishing; nutritious." (At least the first part; " extruded alimentary paste" would be a more precise description of noodles.)

The point isn't whether the word "alimentary" means anything. You probably know related words like "alimony." (Tangentially, the humorous novel Through the Alimentary Canal with Gun and Camera is a surprising early precursor to Fantastic Voyage and related stories of microscopic explorers inside the human body.) The point is that calling any food product "alimentary paste" is hilariously unappetizing.

Fun fact: "pasta" literally means "paste" in Italian (and most languages from Latin).

Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

#68

Post by ReDeiPirati »

howlgarnish wrote: post #46

Great article, but I have to admit I'm a bit surprised by the adoration here: I've on occasion accidentally bought bucatini when I wanted spaghetti, and was mostly annoyed by the tubes squirting out hot water when I tried to eat them like they were spaghetti. Any bucatini-optimized pasta recipes to recommend?

Bucatini alla amatriciana or bucatini alla carbonara. But I'm not sure if you will be able to find Guanciale (a derivate of pork jowl or cheeks) and Pecorino cheese. You can replace Guanciale with cubes of -smoked- bacon (please forgive me italian readers) and Pecorino with Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (that should be more easier to find).

Important: as shared by other HN users, remember to put the pasta out of hot water a couple of minutes before the cooking time and stir it on a hot pan with the sauce for the last 2 minutes. Make sure to add also a few tablespoons of the hot (salted) water you used to cook the pasta, this helps to make the cream effect.

Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

#69

Post by mongol »

graderjs wrote: post #53
mongol wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What novel is that? Sounds very exciting.

oh I mean "reminds me of” as a term including "sounds like"... and was just copying what I think of as Murakami's style and some of his common tropes such as pasta, cooking, strangeness in mundane situations. If you're interested in reading, I reckon it's safe to read his books in chronolgical order. You can see how his style and preoccupations develop over the years. The first story I read was "on meeting the 100% p…

I see! I was curious what made the clock go backwards, seemed like a very interesting plot element!

Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?

#70

Post by legerdemain »

kilburn wrote: post #66
legerdemain wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point isn't whether the word "alimentary" means anything. You probably know related words like "alimony." (Tangentially, the humorous novel Through the Alimentary Canal with Gun and Camera is a surprising early precursor to Fantastic Voyage and related stories of microscopic explorers inside the human body.) The point is that calling any food product "alimentary paste" is hilariously unappetizing.

Fun fact: "pasta" literally means "paste" in Italian (and most languages from Latin).

As does the French pâté. And yet, in English, they suggest very different foods.
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