Italian vs Italian-American. There is a difference.

[Dreamstalker]

We're starting to get a lot of people asking for the cheap Italian-American brands that every grocery store (including the one 200 yards away) carries. Not sure if they're testing us or are really that dense.

SC asks a new guy on his first day, I happen to be nearby.
"Do you have DeCecco pasta?"
Newbie says "I don't know." Wrong answer; SC starts huffing and I jump in. "We don't carry that brand."
"Can you find someone who knows what you carry?"
Oh no you didn't. I send Newbie off to find J, and follow after telling SC to stay where he is...of course he doesn't. When we find J I turn around and practically hit SC in the head with the box I'm carrying. I quickly fill J in on the request.
J: "I'm sorry, we don't carry that brand. DeCecco is an Italian-American brand, we specialize in Italian-only."
SC: "You should carry them, they're a really good brand and use pure Italian spring water in their dough!" ...right.
"We don't carry that brand. If you can tell me what type of pasta you're after, we have plenty of excellent brands."
"How can you call yourself an Italian grocery if you don't carry DeCecco?"
"We have Garofalo pasta, which is very good and inexpensive." [read: the same price point as what you're asking about]
"I don't know what that is! I'm looking for DeCecco."
Yes, we've established this. We've also established that we do not have what you seek, might I suggest the "real" grocery store, as you seem to think we aren't one?

[Shyla]

Why would Italian spring water make it good pasta? That makes no sense. (I've never heard of DeCecco.)

[Dreamstalker]

While DeCecco is technically an Italian company, I've only seen the product in mainstream grocery and big-box stores. My old store stocks it, and the price point was/is the same as Prince (regularly on sale for a buck or less). They don't make that many types IIRC; I remember counting no more than four cuts on the shelf (spaghetti, penne, ziti and maybe linguini) at my old place at any given time.

No idea about the spring water thing. Could be SC pulled that out of his ass to make it sound "artisanal" and justify in his mind why we should carry it.

[Mr Hero]

Importing Italian spring water must be expensive as hell to import if it's used in Italian-American pasta.

[Slayer]

Just curious, why is it Italian-American vs just Italian? It's in all the Italian stores here whereas Garofalo is in most grocery stores due to marketing.

Never heard of the spring water thing tho.

[Dreamstalker]

I think by 'Italian-American' J means the brands that are available in most other existing supply chains/big stores. Some of the stuff we carry probably is available in the Italian neighborhood. With the exception of location-specific regional products, everything is sourced from one warehouse that handles nothing but these imports (our primary shipper is headquartered in Italy).

The bigger point is not to carry products that are readily available elsewhere (don't want to be seen as direct competition)*

* We have a potential store in Los Angeles; the original site selected is a very upscale mall that already has a gourmet grocery store. Said store wasn't happy and sued to block construction (after everything had been approved).

[vikingchyk]

Why would Italian spring water make it good pasta? That makes no sense. (I've never heard of DeCecco.)

The same reasoning that supposedly makes NYC water make supposedly good pizza dough?

[EricKei]

Perhaps 'Italian-American,' in this context, refers to American-made products with Italian-sounding brand names, or ones which originated in Italy but have moved production to the US...? I.e., you can get it at Sysco or another major supplier. As opposed to "Italian" as in "If you want it, you need to find a supplier who can have it imported from Italy for you."

[Dreamstalker]

That's the definition we're using.

Our "Little Italy" neck of the woods likely does carry a lot of Italy-only products, but probably not the same range (we don't stock candied chestnuts, but some of the specialty shops down there do).

[nutraxfornerves]

<begin annoying pedantry>
DeCecco is Italian and is the third largest pasta producer in the world, and export all over the place. So, they are sort of mass produced, but I think they make some good stuff, especially for every day use, . My local gourmet grocer, which extremely picky, carries DeCecco.

They have dozens of pastas. Semolina, egg, organic, whole grain. They make a big deal of how they select & mill their own grains. And

The other essential ingredient of De Cecco pasta now enters the scene: the pure and cold water, “De Cecco spring water.” De Cecco has the exclusive ownership of a source of mountain spring water, located right next to the factory. Even if every pasta factory had its own spring, only few would knead the dough with water around 10°C. Such low temperature is essential to “creating” highly consistent dough, able to hold perfectly while cooking.

[Dreamstalker]

"Exports all over the world" is probably one of the reasons we don't carry it (see my point above about not ruffling feathers with competitors that do). The concept of the store is to bring together regional specialties that aren't available outside their home area.

[wolfie]

"How can you call yourself an Italian grocery if you don't carry DeCecco?"

Same way a place can call itself a Chinese restaurant while not having chop suey, egg foo yung, General Tso's chicken, and fortune cookies.

[MoonCat]

Now I want a big plate of pasta :P

[Mr Hero]

I hope she made lot'sa spaghetti!

[mjr]

This is what happens when companies try to claim something is "authentic" when it really isn't.

It's like when you go to a Chinese restaurant, and some of the food has jalapenos in it. That's not authentic.

Other foods are like that, too. Something could be considered "authentic", but it may not be. And I think the general public's lack of actually knowing what's authentic contributes to that.