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There’s an American fear of “not enough”. I think the overboiled pasta is informed by a fear of undercooked food, but also just this general not-enoughness. It’

There’s an American fear of “not enough”. I think the overboiled pasta is informed by a fear of undercooked food, but also just this general not-enoughness. It’s the same fear that makes someone buy a truck that can hold the biggest load they can imagine needing, rather than accepting they might need to make two trips or rent a bigger truck every few years (or never) and get a truck half the size.

oulipo2 1y ago
It's also because Americans love "mac n cheese" and food like that, so basically that have a taste for overcooked, mushy stuff, where basically 99% of the taste is in the (overflavored) sauce they'll pour on top
gwbas1c 1y ago
> I think the overboiled pasta is informed by a fear of undercooked food Never attribute to malice what you can attribute to incompetence. "Mahkit Baskit" (as we say it) is a discount grocery store. Even though it's clean, there are often lots of mistakes that happen with low-wage, untrained labor. IE, one of the few times I went there, the bosc and d'anjou pears were all mixed together because they are green. (But they are obviously different in taste and shape if you are smarter than ChatGPT, and have stickers on them to make it obvious to whoever's stocking the shelfs.) So it's no surprise the directions on pasta are wrong!
- jefftk 1y ago
  This isn't a Market Basket-specific issue: I see the same thing with pasta at Shaws/Star, Stop and Shop, and Wegmans.
zahlman 1y ago
Meh, connoisseurs would probably say my pasta is overcooked; I don't care. I've tried it other ways and I don't like what's supposedly best. I'm Canadian and I don't think this is an American thing at all. Certainly my lifestyle is nothing like stereotypical US lifestyle. Also: there's a certain kind of machismo associated with liking steak rare, which is hard to reconcile with overcooking other things habitually.

oulipo2 1y ago

It's also because Americans love "mac n cheese" and food like that, so basically that have a taste for overcooked, mushy stuff, where basically 99% of the taste is in the (overflavored) sauce they'll pour on top

gwbas1c 1y ago

> I think the overboiled pasta is informed by a fear of undercooked food Never attribute to malice what you can attribute to incompetence. "Mahkit Baskit" (as we say it) is a discount grocery store. Even though it's clean, there are often lots of mistakes that happen with low-wage, untrained labor. IE, one of the few times I went there, the bosc and d'anjou pears were all mixed together because they are green. (But they are obviously different in taste and shape if you are smarter than ChatGPT, and have stickers on them to make it obvious to whoever's stocking the shelfs.) So it's no surprise the directions on pasta are wrong!

jefftk 1y ago
This isn't a Market Basket-specific issue: I see the same thing with pasta at Shaws/Star, Stop and Shop, and Wegmans.

zahlman 1y ago

Meh, connoisseurs would probably say my pasta is overcooked; I don't care. I've tried it other ways and I don't like what's supposedly best. I'm Canadian and I don't think this is an American thing at all. Certainly my lifestyle is nothing like stereotypical US lifestyle. Also: there's a certain kind of machismo associated with liking steak rare, which is hard to reconcile with overcooking other things habitually.