America’s Best Pasta Is Slipping Away
In a significant shift that could reshape the American pasta landscape, the U.S. Commerce Department has proposed a staggering 92 percent tariff on many Italian pasta imports starting January 2024. This move comes after a year-long investigation into alleged price undercutting by 13 Italian pasta companies, including well-known brands like La Molisana and Pasta Garofalo. The proposed tariff is layered on top of a 15 percent blanket duty on goods from the European Union, raising concerns among American consumers and Italian manufacturers alike. The situation has sparked outrage in Italy, with manufacturers threatening to withdraw their products from U.S. markets if the tariffs are enacted. This escalating pasta trade tension, which has roots dating back to the 1990s, could leave American pasta lovers facing a future with limited access to high-quality, bronze-cut pasta, renowned for its superior texture and ability to cling to sauces.
Bronze-cut pasta, a specialty of the affected Italian companies, is prized for its unique texture, achieved through the use of bronze dies that create a rough surface, enhancing sauce adherence. In contrast, most pasta produced in the U.S. is extruded using Teflon-coated molds, which result in a smoother and less flavorful product. As American consumers increasingly seek higher-quality pasta, the demand for bronze-cut varieties has surged, with brands like Barilla introducing premium lines and midrange retailers like Target offering their own bronze-cut options. However, the proposed tariffs threaten to disrupt this burgeoning market, potentially leading to a scarcity of these sought-after products. The financial implications of producing bronze-cut pasta domestically are daunting, with the necessary equipment costing upwards of $500,000 and requiring significant investment for manufacturers to enter the market.
The culinary community is abuzz with concern over the potential impact of these tariffs. For many food enthusiasts, the choice between settling for lower-quality, Teflon-extruded pasta or facing significantly higher prices for bronze-cut options is a troubling one. As awareness of food quality and health implications grows—particularly regarding the safety of Teflon and its association with harmful chemicals—consumers are increasingly inclined to opt for bronze-cut pasta. If the tariffs take effect, American pasta lovers may find themselves grappling with an impastable dilemma: either adapt to a decline in pasta quality or pay a premium for the authentic Italian experience they’ve come to appreciate. With the future of pasta imports hanging in the balance, the culinary landscape in the U.S. could be forever altered, leaving many to wonder if their beloved pasta dishes will ever be the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp9OdNP9hy0
Load up on linguine and stock up on spaghetti. In the new year, high-quality pasta may be a lot harder to come by in American stores. Several weeks ago, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that, starting in January, most pasta imported from Italy could be subject to a preliminary 92 percent tariff—on top of the 15 percent blanket duty on goods from the European Union. Outraged Italian pasta manufacturers are threatening to pull their products from American shelves.
The proposed tariff, the result of a year-long investigation into the pasta industry, targets 13 Italian companies that have allegedly undercut U.S. manufacturers by selling underpriced pasta. Pasta tensions between the United States and Italy have been simmering since the 1990s, but this new proposal has turned up the heat. White House Press Secretary Kush Desai told me that some of the companies “screwed up” their initial response to the probe by providing the U.S. government with incomplete data, but if they comply going forward, the Commerce Department may yet recalculate its tariff. The
pastifici
insist that they’re being unfairly targeted, and an Italian agricultural industry group has said they
won’t give in to pressure
. That could leave American noodle connoisseurs in an impastable situation.
The affected companies, which include La Molisana, Pasta Garofalo, and Rummo, manufacture the usual penne and rigatoni as well as fancier shapes: tubular
bucatini
, spiraling
elicoidali
, and delicate rings of
anelli siciliani
. Notably, all of them specialize in “bronze-cut” pasta. This term refers to the tool, known as a die, used to extrude the pasta dough into shapes. Using a bronze die gives the pasta a slightly sandpapery texture, which clings better to sauce and results in a more satisfying bite. (Indeed, I have tasted bronze-cut pappardelle, and it is spectacular.) Bronze-cut pasta imbues the water in which it is boiled with extra starch, and ladling some of that water back into the pan while mixing pasta and sauce—nonnegotiable for pasta enthusiasts—creates a silky dish, the chef J. Kenji López-Alt told me.
Most of the pasta made and sold in America is not bronze-cut, but extruded using plastic molds coated with Teflon, according to Tom Sheridan, president of sales and international development at the U.S.-based Kensington Food Company, which makes bronze-cut pasta. A pasta die is about the size of a car tire, dotted with 40 to 60 inserts that extrude the dough, Scott Ketchum, a co-founder of the American bronze-cut-pasta brand Sfoglini, told me. Bronze inserts aren’t as durable as plastic ones, so they need to be replaced more often. Ketchum said that he spends roughly $4,000 every two years to buy new inserts from Italy. Each shape requires a different insert, Tony Adams, the owner of Mill Valley Pasta, told me. And a major downside of making more textured pasta is that it produces huge amounts of pasta dust, necessitating even more equipment and labor to clean up the machinery, according to Dan Pashman, who hosts the
Sporkful
podcast and created his own pasta shape that launched with Sfoglini in 2021. Teflon pasta is cheaper to make because the dough simply glides out of the die, resulting in a faster and more streamlined process—and pasta that is gummier and less adherent to sauce.
These days, the average American is likely more concerned with price than the mouthfeel of their macaroni. Still, over roughly the past decade, demand for better-quality pasta has grown. Barilla, known in the United States for its inexpensive American-made products,
launched
its Al Bronzo line of imported Italian pasta in 2022. Even midrange stores such as Target and Wegmans sell their own bronze-cut pasta. House-brand pastas are usually imported from Italy, so they too may be affected by tariffs, Ketchum said.
[
From the July 1986 issue: Pasta
]
Bronze-cut pasta’s popularity is growing in part because Americans are becoming more savvy about their food. “Pretty much all the pasta was Teflon” until people started learning that there were tastier alternatives, Pashman told me. Recently, the appetite for bronze-cut pasta has also been whetted by health fears. In wellness circles, Teflon is basically synonymous with poison because it comes from a family of chemicals, called PFAS, that have been linked to certain cancers and reproductive issues. On TikTok, lifestyle influencers encourage viewers
to seek out bronze-cut pasta
because it is
supposedly healthier
than its Teflon-extruded kin.
The concerns are largely a nonissue. Teflon cookware
can
release harmful chemicals when it’s overheated, but extruding pasta is a room-temperature affair, Sheridan told me. Teflon bits could flake off into the pasta, but the health effects of this are unclear, and the company that makes Teflon maintains that those particles are inert. As I
have written previously
, the health consequences of using PFAS-coated cookware are generally not well studied.
If the pasta tariff goes into effect, bronze-cut pasta will almost certainly be rarer on U.S. shelves. More than half of America’s pasta imports—much of which is bronze-cut—come from Italy. Historically, and even more so now, companies don’t have much incentive to start making it domestically: “It’s gonna cost you a quarter of a million dollars or more to get into the game,” Sheridan said. Bronze-cut-pasta equipment from an Italian company called Fava Storci, which he called the Ferrari of pasta machinery, can cost upwards of $500,000. Such machines are hard to come by in the U.S., so they’re usually imported from Europe—and subject to their own tariffs.
[
Read: A great way to get Americans to eat worse
]
If the
pastifici
accept the Trump administration’s proposed tariffs, Americans who are fussy about their pasta—for culinary or health reasons—may soon have to make tough decisions: stomach another meal of slippery, Teflon-extruded penne, or pay extra for ridged
radiatori
? The alternative—that bronze-cut noodles simply won’t be available—is scarier still. After a decade of growing accustomed to the chewy, high-friction delight of bronze-cut shapes, many American foodies may find that they can’t get their teeth on them at all.
