What are Bucatini? At my place, they have Spaghetti/Spaghettini, Linguine (more porous), Macheroni (pre-cut tubes with large holes to suck up sauce), Penne/Rigatoni/Parpadelle (for Carbonara), Fusilli (or the slightly smaller Girandole) with a lot of surface for Goulash-like sauces, Farfalle (for soups), and German-style pasta like Bandnudeln (Penne with eggs), Schupfnudeln and Spätzle/Knöpfle though the latter are simple to prepare from fresh eggs and flour. Sometimes also Greek Khritaraki (resembling rice) and Trofie Liguri, and of course ready-made Gnocchi, Tagliatelle, and Ravioli.
Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
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Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#132What are Bucatini? At my place, they have Spaghetti/Spaghettini, Linguine (more porous), Macheroni (pre-cut tubes with large holes to suck up sauce), Penne/Rigatoni/Parpadelle (for Carbonara), Fusilli (or the slightly smaller Girandole) with a lot of surface for Goulash-like sauces, Farfalle (for soups), and German-style pasta like Bandnudeln (Penne with eggs), Schupfnudeln and Spätzle/Knöpfle though the latter are s…
They are thicker spaghetti with a hole (“buco” in Italian) running through them. Typical of central Italy.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#133Earlier 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…
In this particular case it's not even a matter of safety: pasta with 13 mg/lb, and as far as I can tell (read: Wikipedia) iron deficiency does not appear to be a serious health problem for most Americans (or Europeans). If anything, mandatory enrichment seems like an arbitrary trade barrier imposed on the US side to protect what the article calls "Big Pasta" from foreign interlopers.
"Standards of Identification" are not about safety, but rather marketplace regulation against deception. After all, if it was about safety, then ramen noodles wouldn't be sold at all.
Rather, it is (or was, originally) about protecting the brand of pasta noodles vs. ramen noodles, at a time when the difference was not as readily apparently to consumers.
It's the type of regulation that determines what is a "HD" tv, for example.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#134The 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 actually think most of the governmental functions in this article worked quite well. Told another way, a firm in the marketplace for pasta found that a competitor was out of regulation with their product, and they found a person in congress who could press a slow-moving and ineffective agency to do better at doing their job: enforcing said regulations. That's exactly what you want your elected representatives to do…
Not sure how much experience you have working with business or government but what you'll find is that large corporates will have 'access' to regulators and legislators who can legislate or enforce on their behalf. The senior people will know each other and get things moving.
Medium sized businesses (up to $100m revenues) will find it very difficult even getting a response. Even getting their attention is a competitive advantage for large corporates.
So when you read a story and think things 'worked quite well'. It's just an example of selectively applying laws & regulations, which were only introduced to keep out competition and protect entrenched interests. That's why large corporates love regulations, it protects their entire business model and imposes significant costs on new entrants.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
The curse-blessing of getting to the top of HN has jumped the digital-physical barrier. Which is more likely: Error 404: Bucatini not found. MySQL Error: cannot get connection to deliver Bucatini. /me shows self out
...or Http 420 / 429 slow down consumption requests for bucatini
303 See Other Pasta Shapes
307 Temporary Redirect of Bucatini Deliveries
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#136Great 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 wa…
If available, anything marked “Pancetta” will suit better than smoked bacon. They are not the same thing.
Guanciale is pretty much impossible to find outside of Italy, at least in regular supermarkets. I reckon it’s because nobody can pronounce it
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
All new EU models have daytime running lights and yellow turn lights. What ever is a requirement in Sweden is basically an EU one as well. Thanks to standardized EU certifications. Which is a good thing, mostly!
It’s true that EU regulation on this topic was harmonized in 2011. However, the harmonization actually loosened the Swedish requirements in several ways, particularly with regard to rear lights, which previously were required to be always on.
I bought a car (Citroën) a few years ago, and told the dealer I wanted it so the rear lights would always be on. They configured whatever doohickey is responsible for that, and made sure to charge me for it. But now the rear lights are always on, like they're supposed to, and I feel a little safer.
I think it's super dumb that it's not a requirement any more, and I don't see any reason for the change.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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?
"Macaroni" is a very old synonym for "pasta". It used to have a different broader meaning than the shape.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#139the only thing that baffles me somehow is: do you really get dried pasta shipped all the way from Italy to the US?
“Do you really get phones shipped all the way from China?”
What’s the problem with specialised goods coming from a country that specializes in making such goods...?
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#140Earlier 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…
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