There was a recent TIL thread about how much pasta Barilla makes, and it was filled with Italians saying “Oh Barilla sucks, it’s considered bad pasta in Italy and people only buy it because it’s cheap”. Meanwhile in Japan I find Barilla is usually the most expensive brand in supermarkets because “It’s the most popular brand in Italy!”
So I’m curious what pasta the Italians living here buy, and if any of the Japanese brands are what you’d consider good.
33 comments
I usually fill my luggages of pasta when coming back from Italy. In case of emergency De Cecco from Jupiter supermarket is a good choice for us.
The last time I explained an italian that japanese used ketchup to create napolitan pasta and it was quite good he nearly hit me and told me to never cook for my friends.
they are so fun people
My wife really likes Barilla pasta, I hope I’m not going to have to pass on some bad news 😔.
de cecco and la molisana are both pretty good options
I grow my own spaghetti and harvest it fresh, just like the BBC showed back in 1957:
https://www.google.com/search?q=pasta+harvest+bbc+video
Ok Imma tell you a secret as an Italian in Japan: I just buy Japanese branded spaghetti.
I tried once buying De Cecco but they only import spaghettini and capellini, which was a sad surprise when I opened the plastic wrap. Japanese spaghetti don’t change at all in texture and taste, even in Italy I would buy cheap brands and still make good pasta (the sauce is not everything, ofc, but it’s the most important thing in a pasta dish). If I had to buy shorter cuts I would go with De Cecco from import stores, just because I saw they have more variety, but I rarely make pasta in the first place because inredients for the sauces are difficult to find.
Edit: Barilla is not bad, it’s popular in Italy too. It’s just a bit more expensive compared to other brands so many Italians are not very familiar with it.
I stick to Italian brands because I know what to expect. In terms of brands I buy De Cecco because it’s what I find in the closest supermarket (Kaldi) and because I can find 500g bags instead of 250g or less. I don’t think Barilla is that bad though, I used to buy it back in Italy and I still do to make lasagne. Oh yeah and Gragnano pasta for bucatini. With that said, honestly I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between Barilla and De Cecco without seeing the packaging.
If you feel adventurous it’s fun to try different brands and see if you notice a difference, when you go real cheap (even among Italian brands) you should start noticing. And if you don’t notice any difference (in the texture and how they go from “al dente” to chewy), use cheaper pasta and invest in a good sauce instead. That’ll do a lot more for the flavour.
TL;DR: DeCecco, but Barilla is fine as is any other brand that is not unrealistically cheap.
As many have said, the staples brands I use are Molisana and De Cecco, but they can be pretty expensive. Meanwhile if you have access to Costco I would definetly recommend Garofalo, as it has a better cost/performance ratio.
Unfortunately I haven’t found a Japanese brand that made me want to try it. By the color and look of the pasta I can tell their not good quality.
What’s wrong with Cup Noodles?
As an Italian reading these comments just reminded that people are hilarious
Saizeriya. Best place for anything Italian.
Pasta isn’t a really big deal, ingredients on the other hand… No guanciale and especially no GOOD parmigiano is almost impossible to overcome.
Guanciale or prosciutto is prohibited to import, that’s rough… At least parmigiano isn’t, usually I stuff my luggage with it.
De Cecco from Kaldi. I order around 10kg every 3-4 months. This is the best option in terms of easy to find and good pasta.
Other recommended brands (La Molisana) are difficult to find in Japan. I bring them back from Italy when I go.
For sauces, the Barilla’s ones are not so bad if you are lazy to cook, and can be found in most supermarkets.
[https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Martino-Spaghetti-1-8mm-No-2kg/dp/B0732V5ZQF?pd_rd_w=tlH1j&content-id=amzn1.sym.0364971b-42fa-4907-ae3b-95519eb72dca&pf_rd_p=0364971b-42fa-4907-ae3b-95519eb72dca&pf_rd_r=K15T993VB1RYHSY733R3&pd_rd_wg=YZ35o&pd_rd_r=e3d0e55b-9714-490b-8c2d-c7d73494139b&pd_rd_i=B0732V5ZQF&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_0_5_i](https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Martino-Spaghetti-1-8mm-No-2kg/dp/B0732V5ZQF?pd_rd_w=tlH1j&content-id=amzn1.sym.0364971b-42fa-4907-ae3b-95519eb72dca&pf_rd_p=0364971b-42fa-4907-ae3b-95519eb72dca&pf_rd_r=K15T993VB1RYHSY733R3&pd_rd_wg=YZ35o&pd_rd_r=e3d0e55b-9714-490b-8c2d-c7d73494139b&pd_rd_i=B0732V5ZQF&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_0_5_i)
やまや has great selection the important thing is that pasta shouldn’t be yellow or smooth (unless it’s egg pasta like tagliatelle) it should be a pale ivory sort of color with a porous texture. Aeon had great pasta from napoli! Look for the DOC or DOP symbol. Big brands pasta Molisana is good also garofalo, De Cecco still better than Barilla. In Japan you can find any grade of Italian stuff from amazing quality to trash you just need to look for it
For the people that say “make your own” fresh pasta and dry pasta are different and used with different sauces.
When it comes to dry pasta there’s only two kinds: those made with modern teflon dies (smooth texture) and those made with old school bronze dies (rough texture). The latter only really matters if you need starchy pasta water to thicken or emulsify your sauce (useful for something like cacio e pepe). You can tell which it is just by looking at the surface of the pasta through the package.
Ingredients-wise, everything I’ve seen here is made with 100% semolina flour (even the cheap convenience store brands) which is what you want. Otherwise there is zero difference unless you need an obscure shape that only import stores stock.
Remember to always salt your pasta water and enjoy.
Better than Barilla in Japan? Garofalo. They sell it at Costco. De Cecco. They sell it at Kaldi and Seijo Ishii along with others. Even OK Store sells Dolce & Gabbana pasta which is better than Barilla.
I’ll just leave my short pot full of pasta broken in half here.
I’m Italian. Barilla it’s not the best even in Italy but I can understand how they points to be top notch away from home. De cecco is a safe bet if you don’t find molisana. Also Voiello and Rummo are not bad. However those are supermarket brands. If you want top pasta try to look at Felicetti which is my favourite
Go for Decetto, Rummo, like use your eyes to spot the good pasta, they need to have long cook times and have that yellow rugged texture of bronze extracted pasta (I found some really good ones at maruetsu)
Don’t ever use cheap japanese spaghetti those things are truly aweful lol. Often they aren’t even durum wheat and use yellow colorants to get yellow. Barilla usually aren’t bronze cut and aren’t good.
I fw the convenience store carbonara
Best pasta you’ll eat in Japan is in Ramen.
The biggest pasta life hack I can give you is to start making your own sauce. It’s incredibly easy and I wish I started sooner. My go to recipe is
– 1 can of chopped tomatoes
– 1/2 an onion (diced)
– 3 cloves of garlic
– 1 yellow bell pepper
– 1/2 cup of olive oil
– 1/4 cup of Jingis Kan sauce
– salt and pepper to taste
– bacon / ground meat / whatever meat you’d like
Let it simmer for ~4 hours (or more).
And at the end, add about a 1/2 cup of white vinegar to really make it pop.
Italian here
Rummo > Alce Nero > De Cecco > Barilla
Is my personal ranking. De Cecco is sold at most supermarkets and it’s pretty good. Alce Nero is slightly better, but rarer to find (imho, their pasta sauces (especially arrabbiata) are the best you’ll find in japanese supermarkets).
Rummo is the real king, but is basically the Feebas of pastas: ridiculously hard to find.
Barilla is like your last resort if you can’t find the other three. Just stay away from their tomato sauce and Pesto sauce: they taste absolutely terrible, like someone scooped up their cat’s diarrhea, ate it, puked it out, and then loaded it with lots of sugar.
Oh, and then there’s these geniuses:
> Italian pasta company apologises for ‘fascist’ rigatoni named after Abyssinia.
I’ll leave it up to you wether to give them your money or not.
Jolly Pasta.
With such good eggs here, I recommend making your own pasta. My Italian friend (who used to live in Tokyo) recommends this if you don’t want a machine: [https://www.the-pasta-project.com/homemade-orecchiette-with-6-recipes/](https://www.the-pasta-project.com/homemade-orecchiette-with-6-recipes/)
What do you expect to get out of asking a question like this in a sub filled with Americans and predominantly English speaking countries?
When it comes to food I just ignore what Italians say.
They fuck around with sushi or any other Japanese dish for that matter, hence I will fuck up pasta or pizza anyway I want.
I buy La Molisana and Garofalo
Barilla is fine as long as you don’t overcook it, don’t overthink it.
Italian Here. I try to stomach the japanese brands… and they suck. They’re like plastic. You can’t really find good pasta here, it’s better if you make it yourself. De Cecco is okay but… eh, the price.
Also, at least in this area you only find spaghetti, not much else
I make my own pasta with a hand-cranked pasta machine and expensive imported 00 pasta flour. I also make my own sauces but I won’t claim that they are authentic. They are, however, delicious.
Pizza I just don’t eat anymore full stop.
hmmm