the only thing that baffles me somehow is: do you really get dried pasta shipped all the way from Italy to the US?
Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
101–110 of 333 posts
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#102What I love about this story is that this is the tension of politics in a nutshell. What has happened here is what people would term "state capture", where someone uses the state to gain an advantage. Probably though, the solution is to not _completely_ demolish any standard of pasta and let the market solely decide, because we've seen what happens in a variety of other unregulated industries. However, I won't make my stand on any solution here: I'm more of a polenta person honestly.
It's a true problem that requires nuance, or lacking that, constant vigilance to make sure the system works for everyone. I'm realizing more and more that there will never be a political promised land, a polity will always have to perform the maintenance of their system, and every generation will have to actively work to bend their systems toward justice.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#103Hey folks,
European chiming in here. If you are serious about bucatini, shoot me a DM and we can discuss importing that precious golden Ambrosia into the US of A, maybe declared as 'alimentary paste', drinking straw - or even use 'the Mexican route' to import it, if you know what I mean.
I have to go now, my pasta is ready.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
I see! I was curious what made the clock go backwards, seemed like a very interesting plot element!
Murakami is more magic realism than scifi, so if you're looking for explanations for the weird happenings in his books you often end up out of luck
Agreed. Murakami introduces all sorts of weird / surrealistic / magical elements into stories, but there's rarely if ever any attempt to explain them. They're just part of the fabric of the story.
Magic realism is kind of weird genre. Sort of "in between" in that "magic shit happens, but in our ordinary world, not a world where magic shit happens". That is, magic happens, but not in a Harry Potter'ish or Tolkein'ish world where magic is explicitly part of the world.
All of that said, I love Murakami. Need to finish reading the rest of his novels one of these days.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Pasta, pastry, paste, pasty. All related words. The French for pastry is pâte. Pâté means "pasted" as in "pasted fish".
The French aliment simply means food, although it's not spoken very often in France. The word exists in English but it's quite rare and normally used in legal contexts like so many other words of French origin.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#106The 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)
And awkward as hell too. Maccheroni is a shape of pasta, but apparently all pasta is "enriched macaroni" in the US?
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#107I'm glad someone else noticed it. During the height of the first pandemic wave in Canada, I literally couldn't find Bucatini anywhere, specifically De Cecco which IMO is superior to some other brands where I live. I went to dozens of supermarkets and they had every variant of pasta except Bucatini and I really couldn't understand what the heck was going on.
De Cecco is an expensive brand in Italy. When I'm abroad I don't buy anything but. Barilla will do if De Cecco is missing though.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#108The 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 governmen…
I can't help but think of Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack. During a golf tournament, he gives the officials some money saying "keep it fair, keep it fair!"
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#109Fun 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..!
And for the linens and clothes in the vicinity! Slurping is so messy with heavy sauces
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#110the only thing that baffles me somehow is: do you really get dried pasta shipped all the way from Italy to the US?
Much of my food is imported from Italy... including the December-season Pannettone which dictates Italian provenance to bear the name.