Your favourite brands and types of pasta

Morning Glory said:
Its difficult to believe its this low, as there are numerous fresh and frozen pasta ready meals sold by supermarkets and when people panic bought for the lock down, pasta was one of the first things to fly off the shelf. I suspect most UK families eat it once a week. Y'know, I'm not sure how this data is gathered in the first place!
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Well I don´t believe in conspiracy theories, nor in the first thing I see on the internet, which is why I always visit at least a dozen sites before making even a tentative statement! I was almost as surprised as you, especially since Tunisia is usually 2nd or 3rd on the list!
 
karadekoolaid said:
Well I don´t believe in conspiracy theories, nor in the first thing I see on the internet, which is why I always visit at least a dozen sites before making even a tentative statement! I was almost as surprised as you, especially since Tunisia is usually 2nd or 3rd on the list!
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Here is some recent data from the UK - this seems far more in line with what we would think. This equates to about 5kg per year per capita (I think):

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Pasta: Weekly consumption in the UK 2006-2020 Statistic | Statista
 
Morning Glory said:
Is that uncooked weight? I'm trying to work what what that means per average week, per person. Uncooked weight that works out 230g of pasta per week per person. An average serving is let us say 90g? So that would mean 2 to 3 times per week. In fact, that doesn't seem huge.
What do they tend to eat it with?

My favourite pasta is probably linguine. I'm not sure why - maybe because it is quite delicate. But I do use penne - its cheap. I don't really have a particular brand. To be honest I can't tell much difference between expensive and cheap. I'm not so keen on wholewheat pasta. Does anyone here like that?
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I like long, skinny pasta (spaghetti, angel hair, vermicelli, linguine, etc.) and my husband likes short, tubular pasta (penne, rigatoni, etc.). I will generally cave into his whims but occasionally I go for the longer thin pasta and he gets a bit miffed. It does taste the same (to me) but of course has a different texture, though he swears it tastes differently. I don't see how that's possible, LOL.

No, I don't like whole wheat or whole grain pasta. Yuck.
 
That give me about 400 gms per person per month. I can assure you that´s less than a Venezuelan would eat on a weekly basis, since serving sizes are 125-130 gms at a time.
 
karadekoolaid said:
Different pastas go with different sauces. I´d never serve linguine, for example, with a chunky broccoli and anchovy sauce. If I´m using tubular pasta, I´d want a sauce that gets inside the tubes/shells.
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I'd agree with that. I get to choose whatever I like when I am making a seafood pasta dish, but if we are having red sauce with meat, mushrooms, onions, herbs, etc. or meatballs and red sauce, hubby always wants penne or rigatoni. I quit buying rigatoni and I still do have some penne in the pantry, but I would rather have spaghetti with it. I am trying to go through what we have on hand so I can start making my own sometime this year, since I now have that KA pasta attachment. I am pretty sure I can get away with long skinny pasta for awhile if I start making it from scratch since I imagine it's probably not easy to make penne. Farfalle looks fun, though, and he will eat that.
 
Barilla dominates the grocery store shelves here in North Texas. Accordingly, that is what I buy most often.

CD
 
karadekoolaid said:
Different pastas go with different sauces. I´d never serve linguine, for example, with a chunky broccoli and anchovy sauce. If I´m using tubular pasta, I´d want a sauce that gets inside the tubes/shells.
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A very good point. My favourite pasta is linguine but then, I tend to prefer to eat pasta with a very simple sauce that coats it rather than a sauce with chunky bits. I'm happy with garlic, olive oil, herbs and maybe some parmesan.
 
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Cthulhu said:
wow! where will you go in Italy? You will eat a lot of pasta :laugh:
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The current plan is Bergamo, Cinque Terre, Florence, Tuscany, Rome and Naples. Then turn around and start making our way back towards home. That's if we stick to the current plan of course...and we never do stick to our plans :laugh: We travel in a motorhome (camper) so if we like somewhere we can stay longer, if not we move on....100% flexible.

I'm sure we'll eat plenty of pasta...and we'll bring even more home with us: that's the other advantage of the way we travel...plenty of storage space to bring home souvenirs :okay:
 
karadekoolaid said:
Different pastas go with different sauces. I´d never serve linguine, for example, with a chunky broccoli and anchovy sauce. If I´m using tubular pasta, I´d want a sauce that gets inside the tubes/shells.
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Absolutely agree! I guess that's one of the reasons why there are so many different shapes to choose from :)

One shape that I forgot to mention earlier that I think goes particularly well with a chunky sauce is radiatori.
 
Cthulhu said:
Barilla, in my opinion, is very bad...but just right now barilla is launching a new line (red box) with a superior quality (and more expensive): I haven't tried it yet but whoever did it confirms that it is better
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caseydog said:
Barilla dominates the grocery store shelves here in North Texas. Accordingly, that is what I buy most often.
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I think over here I think most people consider Barilla to be at the higher end of the market: certainly its a lot more expensive than the basic brands. I just did a quick search on Ocado for spaghetti: the cheapest is Marks & Spencer's own at 15p per 100g (and this actually quite expensive for a supermarket own brand: Aldi & Asda's are only 4p per 100g), and the most expensive mass-produced is Garofalo at 45p per 100g (I've not included special ones such as organic, gluten free, artisan etc.). Barilla is 29p per 100g, so actually its pretty expensive for people on a budget (Ocado definitely isn't one of the cheapest supermarkets in the UK).

Personally I think whilst Barilla is not outstandingly good, it is perfectly decent and its absolutely fine for dishes where its going to be baked in a sauce. Its certainly a step up from some of the cheaper brands available.
 
Extruded shapes like penne, fusilli and rigatoni can't me make at home simply because of the amount of pressure to properly do it. Thought I'd mention that because people have mentioned it. Shapes normally found dry like cavatelli, Orecchiette and Strozzapreti can be make by hand. Dry pasta is made from durum semolina and water, which if you haven't made pasta with durum, it's a different experience for sure.
 
garlichead said:
Extruded shapes like penne, fusilli and rigatoni can't me make at home simply because of the amount of pressure to properly do it. Thought I'd mention that because people have mentioned it. Shapes normally found dry like cavatelli, Orecchiette and Strozzapreti can be make by hand. Dry pasta is made from durum semolina and water, which if you haven't made pasta with durum, it's a different experience for sure.
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Here cavatelli orecchiette strozzapreti...can be easily found fresh in the fridges at the supermarket 😅 I wouldn't buy them dry...is for that I forgot to mention those shapes!
 
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