The Pasta of Italy

I was just sitting here when some Barilla pasta commercial came popping into my head. I remember the ad saying “Barilla…the pasta of Italy.” That brought back memories of this summer when I actually went to Italy to study abroad. I remembered going to the grocery store and buying noodles, and it’s true: Barilla is the only brand name pasta I can remember seeing. That being said, I still did not see that much Barilla. Instead, I saw box after box of private label brands and generic noodles. So, when Barilla says they are the pasta of Italy, they are technically not lying. It’s just that brand names don’t always have the same power overseas. There are no Meuller’s or even a large private label like Spartan, but rather a bunch of different private brands.