Spaghetti Remains King

Recently I spent some time enquiring into life in an Italian pasta factory— namely Pastificio Maurizio Mennucci (at Ponte a Moriano, near Lucca), whose superior products are imported to the United States. I became aware of Mennucci because of the recipes on their pasta boxes, which are extremely good—unusually so. Lucca, one of the most ravishing towns in Tuscany, is famous for the integrity of its products, notably its olive oil. The Mennucci family are part of this tradition, which, thank the Lord, still thrives there.

Here are some of the data I collected during my visit to the Mennucci plant: It takes 17 hours for flour and water to be turned into packaged spaghetti. It is all done by machine: yours is the first human hand to touch the pasta, when you are preparing to cook it. The machines—for sifting flour, mixing dough, etc.—are full of control boards, and cost around $3 million apiece. They stand in a large modern building, where the air is pure and clean and the surroundings immaculate (pasta readily absorbs foreign flavors). Blue-smocked men and women tend them without resentment—the firm is an old and well-established local concern, and the owners are very much part of the local scene; their eyes follow the proceedings carefully.

NH

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Nika Hazelton

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Recently I spent some time enquiring into life in an Italian pasta factory— namely Pastificio Maurizio Mennucci (at Ponte a Moriano, near Lucca), whose superior products are imported to the United States. I became aware of Mennucci because of the recipes on their pasta boxes, which are extremely good—unusually so. Lucca, one of the most ravishing towns in Tuscany, is famous for the integrity of its products, notably its olive oil. The Mennucci family are part of this tradition, which, thank the Lord, still thrives there.

Here are some of the data I collected during my visit to the Mennucci plant: It takes 17 hours for flour and water to be turned into packaged spaghetti. It is all done by machine: yours is the first human hand to touch the pasta, when you are preparing to cook it. The machines—for sifting flour, mixing dough, etc.—are full of control boards, and cost around $3 million apiece. They stand in a large modern building, where the air is pure and clean and the surroundings immaculate (pasta readily absorbs foreign flavors). Blue-smocked men and women tend them without resentment—the firm is an old and well-established local concern, and the owners are very much part of the local scene; their eyes follow the proceedings carefully.