"I was also slightly worried that I had inadvertently made myself a target of Big Pasta."
This could be the hottest Netflix drama of 2021.
Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
91–100 of 333 posts
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#92Earlier 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…
Because we don't have a world government so every government can do what they want. Even ignoring protectionism there are a billion different ways to make reasonable regulations and many of them will be incompatible in some ways. Countries working together on regulations is a thing, but it also does slow down things and takes a lot of effort. >Or vaccines. Why isn't there a global approval system? I don't see any way…
Aerospace goy pretty close, with EASA and the FAA accepting each others certification. Until the FAA blew the 737 MAX and everyone had to show how tough they are. And because the FAA did screw up.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#93Fun article but I can’t seem to match their excitement for the cut... to me it’s just spaghetti that’s much harder to slurp on account of it being a straw.
A feature for anyone in your vicinity..!
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#94I have never had bucatini, but of course thanks to this article now it's all I want.
I don’t recall ever having it until reproducing a Hello Fresh recipe that we had previously eaten and wanted to make from scratch. My daughter is a budding foodie and wondered if we could find the bucatini. I aired her what that was and she said it was the type of pasta in the dish (that I had eaten) and that they were like noodle straws.
I bought the last box at Kroger somewhat intrigued. It took a bit longer than spaghetti to cook, and honestly I didn’t find it particularly interesting. Just a fat noodle that wasn’t particularly good at holding on to the sauce.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#95Haha, that was well written article. Highly reccomended reading.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#96I always hated the expression, but honestly, now I understand: first world problems
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#97The writing style is awesome, I literally laughed out loud.
Beyond that, the article reminds us that in every industry there are powerful actors that protect their monopoly, and will coerce the government into helping them.
I read an article about import taxes on sugar that were created to keep out competition, and as a result everything uses corn syrup. Other examples abound.
Unfortunately, the solution of government oversight of itself (such as FBI breathing down the neck of the NSA), has obvious circular drawbacks.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
> as far as I can tell (read: Wikipedia) iron deficiency does not appear to be a serious health problem for most Americans (or Europeans) "Iron deficiency isn't an issue, probably because there's lots of enriched foods, so let's stop enriching food!" I think regulatory analysis requires a little more thought than that.
The fact that European pasta isn't enriched and we don't have iron deficiency issues gives a good hint, so.
Different regions have diets made up of different ingredients, which have different levels of various minerals. Humans don't all eat the exact same thing and they don't all exist in the same exact climate so regulations tend to be curated to their local constituents.
Furthermore, in many European nations the pasta is enriched, mainly with fiber although plenty of other nutrients are added depending on the brand and market. European countries just don't have regulations regarding "enriched macaroni" labeling like the US, which is an interesting historical quirk but irrelevant to what's actually in the pasta. Popular brands like Barilla are almost certainly enriched with something - depending on the size of the market it might have been enriched to American standards just to minimize manufacturing fragmentation (i.e. Italy, a huge consumer of pasta and origin of many of the brands will have formulas dedicated to that market, while Norway will receive whatever other formula is closest to their requirements).
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#99At 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…
> Or vaccines. Why isn't there a global approval system?
Global systems are inherently more fragile, no? More eyes on something is always a good thing, less likely to be corrupted by corporate interests, etc...
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#100The article mentions the fact that the FDA calls all legal pasta "enriched macaroni." The article also mentions trade groups pressuring the FDA to set arbitrary standards on pasta to keep out imports of Asian noodles. The article fails to mention what the FDA calls Asian noodle products. It calls them "alimentary paste."
> enriched macaroni
That must be the lamest way of defining pasta I've ever heard. Whoever named it like that doesn't deserve italian pasta (/s)