All I can picture are Ferengi tube grubs from Star Trek.
Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
231–240 of 333 posts
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you think "access" looks like? There is no "big pasta". There's like a handful of companies[1] that make it all. I'm sure the execs all own yachts but if you were to compare executive fleet displacement it's more of a Venezuelan navy than a French navy. They can't just call up their lobbyist who's already scheduled to golf with a congressman every other weekend and tell them to bring it up on their next trip.…
It's small relative to other industries but its still a multi-billion dollar industry. Each of the largest companies will have PR agencies, personal contacts within the FDA, revolving door of staff between the FDA and the corporates, positions on standards committees, board members who have spent a life time in food safety governance. I'm sure many of these manufacturers are the largest employers in some congressiona…
This food regulation is not really based on health or nutrients or anything like that, nor is it pointless. It stems from an effort to define what can be marketed as a pasta noodle vs. other similar yet different products, like ramen noodles.
There are similar regulations that define, for example, what is a whiskey and what isn't.
Sure X amount of Y substance vs. X-epsilon amount will always look ridiculous on the face of it, but ultimately there needs to exist some line and some definition.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#233The 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."
> It calls them "alimentary paste." Citation? The article doesn't mention "alimentary paste" anywhere, so your remark comes off as assertive, yet I couldn't find traceability to this term in what I believe to be the applicable federal statute[1]. [1] https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?node=pt21.2.139&rgn=di...
A google search with terms like site:fda.gov alimentary paste might help. The person you're responding to is not making this up.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#234I would have assumed that dry pasta of different shapes was produced with the same dough just extruded through the different dies. So a question is, does De Cecco actually use a complying dough for its other pasta shapes, and the FDA checked and blocked the only noncompliant product? Or is the stage set for there to be a shortage of cavatappi next month?
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#235Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
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!
That's what we have California for. They're like america's exhausted mother, constantly swooping in to prevent us putting bad things in our mouths or being jerks to other kids.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#236The 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…
The sugar tax is pretty simple. Corn grows in north america and sugar cane doesn't.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#237I havent seen cappellini mentioned, which I often I use for the same reason. Is cappellini not commonly available in the states?
It's usually called "angel hair" and readily available in my experience.
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#238Hey 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.
Set up a vendor on the dark web. “Top notch buca. Excellent stealth.”
If I have to turn state's witness, please let it be about pasta...
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#239Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 competiti…
What do you think "access" looks like? There is no "big pasta". There's like a handful of companies[1] that make it all. I'm sure the execs all own yachts but if you were to compare executive fleet displacement it's more of a Venezuelan navy than a French navy. They can't just call up their lobbyist who's already scheduled to golf with a congressman every other weekend and tell them to bring it up on their next trip.…
> They can't just call up their lobbyist who's already scheduled to golf with a congressman every other weekend and tell them to bring it up on their next trip.
I think you're vastly underestimating the impact of lobbying and overestimating the cost
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/708195702
Tax Professor wants to try to get a policy (automatically filled out tax returns for CA state taxes)he thinks will be good for the public passed.
He gets nowhere.
Hires a lobbyist at a discount
> BANKMAN: They gave me a deal because they thought it would be kind of fun to work for this crazed professor.
> VANEK SMITH: They were working for you, just you?
> BANKMAN: Yeah. They were working for me. And so the normal price, I think, would have been $140,000 to get Mike's services. But he gave it to me for only 35. So I paid 35,000, I believe.
Got a lot closer (opt in automatic filling) despite massive opposition from anti tax groups and tax prep software lobbyists
Re: Why Is There a Bucatini Shortage in America?
#240Earlier quoted context omitted.
It must be exhausting to shop. You have to analyze and scrutinize each brand and determine if they meet the current requirements of the day. Is there an up-to-the-minute app or hotline one can use to check every brand of every product one purchases in real time at the shop?
Cute. No, I just heard about their intolerance and veer slightly to the right to a different brand when facing the shelf. Not exhausting at all. Similarly I quit going to Chick Fil A. At first I'd just ask the clerk "Is this a hateful message day? I don't want to be seen as endorsing your company's hateful message." But the poor clerk didn't know how to answer, so I just walk to another shop (next door) instead. Agai…
But are you aware of the political and cultural opinions of the owners of the brand you bought instead?