Last night we had some friends over for [...]]]>

Happy June!
Last week was a crazy week! I helped my brother move out of his house and into his new house, so there was plenty of catching up to do on the work front when I got back, which is why I haven’t posted much.

Last night we had some friends over for dinner and when I opened a box of Barilla thin spaghetti, I was surprised to find this.

Did someone forget to do something here or are we looking at a new cut of pasta?

Barilla as a brand has managed to rise to the top of the packaged dry-pasta world, while maintaining authenticity and its Italianess. There are many brands that claim to be Italian but have not maintained their authenticity. Many of these same brands are brands that have been gobbled up by large international companies over the years and are no longer managed by Italians, so it shouldn’t be a big surprise. That is not the case with Barilla as they are still Italian owned. According to their website, they became the number one brand of pasta in the US in 1999 and by 2003 had twice the market share of their next largest competitor. All that being said… it’s hard to maintain brand quality when you’re the “big pomodoro” on the block. Has Barilla lost its edge? What would the Barilla brothers say if they knew the above pasta came out of a box of Barilla thin spaghetti? Overall, in my opinion, its a good quality pasta that is consistent. The above sample aside, you (usually) know what you’re going to get with Barilla. Are they the best? I prefer De Cecco myself but can only find limited varieties in my local grocery store. What are your thoughts on Barilla? and what’s your favorite readily available dry-pasta brand?