As almost anyone who drinks beer knows, the Germans established purity standards centuries ago, decreeing that beer should be made from water, grain, sugars, hops, yeast, and little else. In other words, no additives and no preservatives. Rather than view these rules as a sign of devotion to quality, Europe's multinational breweries always considered them a German barrier against the sale of other EEU brews, and about 10 years ago the European courts agreed: Now Germans, just like everyone else in the world, can buy beer that has one additive to keep the head from foaming out of the glass and another to keep it from vanishing entirely. German breweries are not required to use these things, of course, and many certainly don't. However, one wonders about the cheaper brews -- what corners are being cut?

We'll soon be wondering the same thing in Italy vis-à-vis pasta: late this August the EEU courts ruled that the Italian law requiring all dry pasta sold in the country be made from durum wheat flour unconstitutional. This opens the Italian market to northern European macaroni products made from soft wheat (the kind used to make cake flour), which are considerably cheaper to make, and thus will be less expensive on the shelves. The Italians all say they won't buy the cheaper soft-wheat pasta because it won't stand up to cooking the way durum-wheat pasta does (this is true; soft-wheat pasta goes from undercooked to being quite mushy in 30 seconds), and we can believe them: Nothing is worse than pasta the consistency of pudding. None of the major Italian pasta makers (Voiello, Barilla, Agnesi, Buitoni, De Cecco, etc.) is going to want to want to risk gaining a reputation for pudding-like pasta, so I think we can be confident that they will continue to use durum wheat.

But the cheaper soft-wheat pasta will be on the market, and though it may not gain entry to Italian homes I fear it will gain a foothold in the restaurant trade -- specifically, cheap eateries, especially those that cater primarily to tourists who will likely never return. How to avoid ending up in such a place? You get what you pay for; beware of food that's too cheap to be true (today this would be 15,000 lire/person for first, second, fruit, and water/wine). And when you are considering an inexpensive restaurant, look beyond the menu: Are the patrons enjoying their food, or are they picking at it? Also, do they all look foreign, or are there also Italians? If there are no Italians, they probably know something you don't.

How to avoid buying soft-wheat pasta? Read the label on the package. If it's made from durum wheat it will say so. And it will be somewhat more expensive, but in this case the money's well spent.

A presto,
Kyle Phillips
Webweaver, About Italian Cuisine

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