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Aficionados fret as Trump moves to make pasta great again (apnews.com)

submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by aphonefriend@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/politics@lemmy.world

28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

They really coming after pasta now?

top 28 comments

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[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 14 points 5 days ago (2 children)

We require post titles not be editorialized. Please match the headline on the article:

"Aficionados fret as Trump moves to make pasta great again"

p.s. I'd add... REAL 'aficionados' make their own pasta at home. 😉

All you have to do is start with a $300 Kitchen Aid mixer, and add $500 worth of pasta attachments (make sure you spend extra on the bronze ones for the best texture!) Then you can turn your $0.50 worth of flour and water into pasta!

[–] Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 4 days ago

I made ravioli by hand one time, no machine, and it took all day, 6+ hours, and they came out mediocre. It's always time or money.

[–] aphonefriend@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 days ago

Sorry, fixed it

[–] nkat2112@sh.itjust.works 31 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It started with the U.S. Commerce Department launching what it says was a routine antidumping review, based on allegations Italian pasta makers sold product into the US at below-market prices and undercut local competitors. That has led to a threat of 92% duties, which would come on top of the 15% tariff President Donald Trump’s administration imposed on European exports generally.

Let me try to understand this - someone please correct any poor assumptions on my part.

Imported pasta from Italy was cheaper for Americans, so Trump exacted duties to effectively double its cost, thereby making a western food staple significantly more expensive?

[–] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 22 points 6 days ago

Correct. Heaven forbid the region known for pasta make a better quality pasta for cheaper. Also, pasta and ground beef is known as one of the most affordable and easy meals to make next to beans and rice. Those staples have been targeted for the highest increases in price.

[–] ToiletFlushShowerScream@lemmy.world 13 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I don't believe a word of this reasoning. Somewhere somehow this just serves to funnel money into trump family pockets.

[–] fushuan@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Money lost to tax cuts for the rich must be recovered from somewhere. Tariffs are taxes and a perfect way to increase taxes for the little man without literally doing it. Well, he literally did, but republicans don't understand so it works for him.

[+] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com -24 points 6 days ago (6 children)

Sounds like they're going after imported pasta.

I actually support this. There's no reason pasta can't be made anywhere. It's a very basic thing to make, if you have the right tool. Even before the tools, people were making them at home, and in quantities you need at home, that's fine. But there's no great reason why American companies can't combine flour and egg and make some pasta.

I don't think I've ever imported pasta from Italy. Why would I? It's the same thing. And I've never been rich. Let the people who are willing to pay for pasta imported from Italy pay a little more. They won't mind. Anyone who does mind can just buy American made pasta. It's the same thing.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

You missed the part where everything became global. There are well known mass market pasta brands that are owned by Italian companies. The brand I sometimes buy is, and I don’t get it because it’s Italian or the cheapest, but that it’s a good value of quality for a reasonable price

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Admittedly, I don't know much about pasta... But couldn't the same thing be said about like bagels? Yet anyone who has had one in NYC knows that it's simply not the case.

[–] turdburglar@piefed.social 14 points 6 days ago

yeah this person clearly thinks that kraft mac and cheese is = brass cut semolina linguini.

we should have pity and buy them a meal that didn’t come from the freezer aisle.

[–] xyzzy@lemmy.today 11 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The point is the baseline price of pasta for consumers increased. Do you really think the people who need to buy this due to cost have the time to make their own pasta?

[+] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com -11 points 5 days ago (3 children)

I don't think anyone needs to import pasta from Italy, is my point.

Anyone who doesn't have the time or the resources to import expensive pasta is probably just using store brand anyway.

I use store brand and it's fine. I think it's more important to know how to prepare pasta than to use fancy imported pasta for bragging rights.

Anyway, I also use the whole grain pasta for health reasons, so you probably don't care how I prepare my pasta. It's beside the point, though. (If anyone does care how I prepare my pasta, I boil it to around 80% of al dente, where it's still inedible/not soft enough, and I let it cook the rest of the way in the sauce, that way it absorbs some of the sauce, getting some of its flavour from the sauce. This is especially important with the whole grain pasta as some will tell you it doesn't taste as good. I prefer the taste, but I like it even more when it's absorbed some sauce. And it's still al dente in my bowl.)

[–] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago

The imported pasta is only expensive because Trump said so!

[–] fushuan@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 4 days ago

Don't you understand that the reason they put tariffs on it is that imported Italian pasta was cheaper than American homemade pasta? It's in the freaking post. They are putting tariffs on the cheap Italian pasta to make it more expensive so the more expensive American pasta can outcompete it.

Don't you understand that most of the store brand pasta is actually made in Italy and imported by the store because that's cheaper than to contract an actual American company?

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

You’re assuming Italian pasta is fancy and expensive. I’m sure some is, but some is just common mass market brands on your grocery shelf. Until this nonsense started I didn’t realize the pasta I sometimes get is from Italy

[–] Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 4 days ago

The flour is different over there. I buy imported pasta because I like it better, and in southern New England, we've many descendants from Italian immigrants. Providence has like a hundred Italian specialty stores, I have three Italian bakeries within 10 miles, it's huge business here.

[–] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

So the US needs to increase its pasta production by something like 1000% to meet demand? How? People made it at home because they could afford to have someone stay home to make pasta! Like really. Honest question for anyone reading this. Do you have time and energy to play Marie Poppins everytime you want to make a cheap and easy meal?

The issue is you are projecting a personal and individual mindset to a issue that's way more complex than just, people should make their own pasta. In an ideal world you are correct, but in a world with neat supply lines, infrastructure, and knowledge to implement. Why even have pre baked bread in stores people can make their own! Why have produce in the stores, people can grow their own, it's so easy! Why are we even pre grinding the flower, people can grind their own! Why are we cleaning and packaging these eggs? People can get their own chickens. This mindset doesn't work on a large scale.

[+] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com -8 points 5 days ago (4 children)

I can see how you think it's a slippery slope, but most Americans will just buy the American made pasta and won't bat an eye when the imports go up.

You can argue in favour of making it yourself, and that's fine, but anyone for whom cost is a real issue will just get the store brand. It won't affect those people.

[–] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago

Once again how? Making pasta for 10s of millions of people isn't as easy as flipping a switch. Even if every pasta factory tripled their production it wouldn't be enough. Pasta would cost hundreds of dollars per pound in months. It's mind boggling how many people don't know how the World works. Italy makes enough pasta to feed the world but needs other things that other regions make. It would be a dumb investment for our country to suddenly take this approach with so many commodities.

Also the way terrifs work in reality. For example, if Trump just raised the price of a overseas good here to say $20. Why wouldn't all the US factories raise their price to $19.50? In capitalism they have a responsiblity to shareholders to increase prices in that way.

[–] fushuan@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 4 days ago

most Americans will just buy the American made pasta and won't bat an eye when the imports go up

Most Americans will keep buying the same store brand pasta and will complain when the price goes up because either they had to swap to a more expensive American company or will transfer the tariff cost to the consumer. And you wonder why the American company is more expensive? Because if it wasn't the store brands would already work with them, and as stablished, they are putting tariffs on Italian pasta because it outcompetes American pasta companies.

[–] Seleni@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

You know, you could have just kept your thoughts to yourself, and then no-one would ever know you have no idea how markets and supply work, or how much effort and cost actually go into making pasta at home.

Was there any particular reason you wanted to put your ignorance on display?

[–] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Is there a reason the only two options are "import pasta from Italy" and "make it yourself at home"?

Why do you think it can't be made at factories in the US? What do US factories lack that Italy has but everyone also has in their home?

Before we talk about my ignorance, clarify that point. We can't have a valid conversation with you moving the goalposts so far.

[–] Seleni@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Wow, you really don’t know anything about supply and infrastructure, do you? Dude, this is, like, econ 101. I’m sorry you got such a poor education; you should probably get your money back from whatever school you went to.

Think about it. Do you really think that the pasta companies in the US have entire production lines and factories sitting idle? Or that they only run for a few hours a day and then everyone goes home? Of course not. They’re running at capacity for as long as they can every day. They don’t have the ability to ramp up pasta production.

To increase pasta production in the US, those companies would have to either expand their current facilities, or build new ones. And despite what idiotic talking conservative heads seem to think, it is physically impossible for that to happen with the snap of a finger.

Take it from someone whose company is working on upgrading a current facility. Not expanding, mind you; just upgrading. The permitting process alone took us two years. Construction itself will be at least a year and a half. So that’s 3-4 years to build/expand a new factory, maybe more.

That means you’re looking at 3-4 years at a minimum before those US companies can replace the pasta that’s not in our economy anymore. Which means for 3 years or more most Americans won’t be able to afford (or even acquire in the first place) what is a staple food, especially for poor families. That’s what your initial comment boiled down to: starving the poor in the hopes that it might get better eventually.

And all of this is assuming the companies have the money to do all this in the first place. Even upgrades aren’t cheap; a whole-ass new building is crazy expensive. Not every company has that kind of cash, and if the banks aren’t convinced it’ll be a good return on their investment, then getting a loan for it isn’t happening either. Which delays things further as fewer companies will be able to build to meet demand.

[–] Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 days ago

Cost is an issue for me, I buy the import stuff when it goes on sale. The semolina/flour is different. Imported, good pasta, is white, American pastas/cheap stuff is yellow.

[–] turdburglar@piefed.social 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

it’s not the same thing.

[–] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com -5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

And those who care will pay the higher price and probably won't mind. I'm guessing most of them also won't be able to explain why it's not the same.

Some of them will just use the American made pasta.

Importing stuff is always higher.

[–] turdburglar@piefed.social 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

sure it’s always higher. but this is now even higher for no real reason, and that’s dumb.