to ask if Italians and any of you eat brown pasta

[MoYerBoat]

because, according to many a Mumsnetter, white pasta is the work of the devil.

So do they eat white or brown pasta in Italy - home of pasta.

And what about brown rice - who eats that?

(Badly worded OP but really would like answers)

[AmberLeaf]

Im not Italian.

I usually use white egg pasta. I find egg pasta much tastier than normal white pasta.

Don't really like wholemeal pasta, that was all my Mum ever used when I was a child, she was a lentil weaver though so it was all wholegrains and legumes!

Brown rice is shit IMO. takes too long to cook and isn't worth the wait.

White Basmati is my rice of choice.

I love wholemeal/granary/seeded bread though.

[LimeFlower]

I ate brown pasta and liked it.Brown rice is awful,takes aaaaages to cook and tastes like cardboard not that I'm fan of rice

[hanahsaunt]

Sainsbury's does really nice whole & white pasta which is like having white pasta but with some wholegrain in it (not discernible) so a bit like eating 50:50 bread. We use it all the time for spaghetti, fusili and rigatoni.

I like the idea of brown rice but can't face whole plates of it so shoogle up a 50:50 mix of white and brown basmati in the storage tub and that seems a happy compromise on the health/taste front for all concerned.

[snoworneahva]

Kids eat wholemeal pasta and brown rice, I introduced them last year and they were surprised by how little they objected to the flavour. They aren't too keen on wholemeal bread though. Dh and I don't eat starchy carbs.

[snoworneahva]

And the brown pasta is served with a good extra virgin olive oil and loads of freshly grated Parmesan and always a richly flavoured slow cooked sauce. The texture of the pasta is pretty important, Ikea brown pasta has a rank texture, Waitrose essential brown pasta is pretty good.

[Bunbaker]

"Dh and I don't eat starchy carbs."

We do and lots of fruit and veg. And we are all skinny.

[snoworneahva]

Good for you bunbaker - smug much?

[Bunbaker]

I only responded like that because the post I responded to came across as rather smug as well

[BananaGio]

Italian based here. White only, has to be de cecco and the time you cook it for is crucial, 1 min too long and becomes meh. Very small selection of brown in supermarkets here and never seen in restaurants.

[NotTreadingGrapes]

Said the pot to the kettle.....

[Bunbaker]

Yeah. You're right

[NotTreadingGrapes]

(that was to snoworneahva btw)

[NotTreadingGrapes]

Hey Gio, dd went to a pasta factory last week and so now we have to buy that brand always and forever

[snoworneahva]

I'm just responding to everyone saying brown pasta tastes like crap - it doesn't but I'm sure it could taste like crap if you don't use it properly, I like cooking, we eat good food in our house - if that's smug, then ok I'm smug, I can live with that.

[BananaGio]

bless dd NTG. Hope it wasnt one of the artigianale, cost 5 times more brands for your wallets sake.

[Bunbaker]

Is there a real difference in taste between cheaper and more expensive pasta brands?

[NotTreadingGrapes]

Yes. I think so. Rule of thumb from ex-chef Italian handsome swain is less in terms of cost, and more in terms of cooking time. If 2 packs of equally shaped pasta need 8mns and 12 mns respectively, the 12 min one will be better quality. Italians talk about "ruvida" (not smooth) pasta, and if you run your fingers along the stuff that takes longer to cook, it does feel almost bumpy in places.

[Bunbaker]

Oh great, thanks for that.

[MackerelOfFact]

I eat both brown and white pasta but consider them separate entities almost, ditto brown and white rice or bread. Sometimes you just fancy one over the other, it's perfectly acceptable to chop and change.

Agree that brown pasta needs tomato sauce and cheese sauce demands white pasta - likewise, bacon butties need white bread while smoked salmon commands wholemeal granary.

[BeCool]

I'm not Italian, but I eat wholemeal pasta about 50% of the time.

If you struggle with brown rice, try brown basmati rice - which is completely utterly delicious and lovely - I'm serious!!!

[Lulabellarama]

I prefer white pasta, but quite like brown with certain sauces. Puttanesca and a pasta bake I do with mushrooms, sage and gruyere.
We usually have brown rice in most dishes, like salads or with anything soy sauce based. White rice goes with curry.

[snoworneahva]

Completely agree that some sauces work better than others - but that is true for pasta in general. We love Orecchiette pasta with broccoli, chilli and garlic, with loads of oil and Parmesan - no other pasta works well with this combo and its so simple that the best quality pasta is essential and it has to be white! I give white pasta when we have play dates but occasionally we have run out and visiting children have had brown without even noticing and have asked for seconds.
Ikea pasta is cheap and impossible to cook properly, it's either chalky or soggy, but it's reindeer shaped so it passes the novelty test. Apart from that I have only ever done Waitrose or De Cecco wholemeal pasta and they are both fine. The brown rice is always basmati, haven't tried any others.

When I introduced the idea of brown rice and pasta, the kids were very negative but they gave it a go and they liked it, if they had hated it we wouldn't have continued.

Good tasting food is very important to us, I wouldn't eat crap tasting food just because it was healthy, to me most low fat, diet food tastes awful, we're trying to improve our health, it's a bit of a journey, we try thing things, some work, some don't - it is all about balance.....but we all have a different view of what balance is.

[drwitch]

brown pasta works okay just if you serve it the english way (on the side or in a salad) but yuk if you serve it as a substitute for the proper stuff

brown rice okay but think if you are going to have something nutty and a bit chewy as a carb you might as well have pearl barley - cheaper and better for you

[snoworneahva]

Drwitch I live in England and I don't know anyone who serves pasta as a side dish or salad as standard - is this really the English way? I would have said the English way was Spag Bol for main course.

[Gales]

I can't get on with brown rice, you have to chew it forever.

I do usually use brown pasta, but it needs cooking for 5 mons linger than it says on the packet, then it tastes much like al dente white IMO

Can't tell the difference between wholemeal and white spaghetti though.