This is one of those things that sits at the back of my mind, and I just chew at it, over and over in my mind.
Because I know it isn’t right, how does one prove it? How do you get others to notice what is going on? That it isn’t an addled conspiracy theory that one has developed out of a fever dream?
At the start of the pandemic years:
Pasta was perfectly normal. A cheap and easy-to-make carb to go with dinner, right? One could buy even Barilla brand still for $1 or less a box.
Then pasta became really hard to buy. In 2020 and 2021, it was rarely stocked at our grocery stores. It would come in and be bought up quickly. Last year, in 2023, it was fully stocked again, but it isn’t the same (and prices are more than double, even on sale). I would only buy it if it went on sale (and sales were often $1.50 and up a box for store brand).
And let’s not gloss over how many brands have gone to 12-ounce boxes instead of 16 ounces. The box is the same size to trick the eyes.
The cooking water was so starchy after boiling the pasta.
To explain it, think about how starchy boxed mac and cheese is when you drain the pasta. Now, make it far worse. I would cook the pasta for the lowest time to have it al dente, and it didn’t matter. I would find the pasta soft and squishy, and the weirdest aspect is that it falls apart. Egg noodles? They peel apart in strips. Macaroni falls apart in halves.
So, I started using our stockpile of pasta on hand since I often couldn’t find what we wanted at a price I was willing to pay.
Back in the day Kirk got a screaming deal on a ton of Barilla angel hair.
Yes, it expired in 2019. It is perfectly fine. Pasta, if stored correctly, does not go “bad.” Humidity isn’t an issue where we live and we don’t deal with bugs here that get into dry pasta or flour, which is a bonus.
This pasta cooks up perfectly. As it always does.
But if I try out a modern box, it is exactly what happens above: it is starchy and mushy, and it falls apart.
Standard pasta that one would find in any grocery store. Looks normal.
After cooking, the pot shows plenty of starch left behind. Notice the shredded pasta left behind. I cooked it to the minimum time on the package, 6 minutes, in plenty of water.
After draining, it immediately clumps together. Notice how it shreds? It’s glue-y and sticky. It doesn’t smell great, either. It’s like the aroma of cooked cardboard.
So what has changed?
Is it the flour? Pasta in a box is very simple. It usually contains only wheat flour and vitamins (which are required in all grain-based foods by the US government because it has nearly stopped all cases of deficiency of Folic Acid (such as spina bifida) in early pregnancy, often these birth defects happen in first months of pregnancy before the woman even knows. So, no, this isn’t a conspiracy. It’s been a law since 1998, and the cases have plummeted since then. So, the base ingredient hasn’t changed since 2020, but the wheat quality may have changed.
That is my theory. Or at least part of it.
The wheat is of lower quality, and something has changed in how the pasta is made.
Multiple crop failures have occurred globally in the past few years due to severe drought and storms that led to severe flooding. This isn’t just a North American issue (though the US grows only 6-7% of the global crop, we export a lot of wheat). Russia used to be a top wheat grower, but with the war and the embargoes, their exports have plummeted of late. China has faced severe growing issues as well.
If I were to put my tin foil hat on rather tightly, I might question just how little wheat flour they are using and that they are using more water than usual to dry it. But when you cook it, it falls apart, and the wheat itself is not high-quality.
Oh…and the US finally approved the first GMO (bioengineered) wheat seed to be grown in the United States at the end of August. Huh.
I do not feel our food supply chain is safe, and it hasn’t been in years. And well, the quality of wheat flour? That’s a discussion for another day….but it’s also something I have been watching.
~Sarah