So, who has some delicious wholemeal pasta recipes then?

[Caligula]

do they make wholemeal pizzas in Italy?

it's really not that bad, honest!!

(will fill up in France this summer then....... dh will be upset it's taking up valuable vino space!)

We only use wholemeal pasta. That being said, most of the brands of wholemeal pasta I've tried are dreadful. But we get a Sicilian brand from our healthfood store that is really fine. I now find white pasta quite insipid.

Oh god, I miss wholemeal pizza, a pizza chain in Montreal does them (as an option). The pizza dough is very very flat and thin, though, which is how I prefer it anyway.

Not sure it is just gratuitous fibre. It's a complex carb, unlike white pasta so you need less of it to fill you up, it also contains more vitamins and minerals than white pasta.

I do agree that it's better with the gutsier tomato based sauces than the creamy ones - but we rarely have creamy ones.

I agree with Blu. Wholemeal pasta is made up, just as soy milk is made up. Where are the udders on a soy bean?

If you don't eat dairy because you are genuinely intolerant or allergic, I can understand why you would want to replace it in your favourite dishes. But if you don't eat dairy because you think it's not natural to eat the milk of another species, why on earth would you substitute it with something else equally unnatural that was only invented to replace the foodstuff that has been used for centuries? Soy milk is not a mainstay Asian food (used mainly for feeding sick old people) either, and babies and children are certainly not fed on it.

But seriously, if you eat wholemeal bread, cereal, brown rice, pulses, lots of fruit and veg, you really don't "need" wholemeal pasta. I mostly eat wholemeal bread, but I don't find all white bread disgusting - lots of it is delicious. So I can eat wholemeal pasta with the right sauce, but it doesn't stop me enjoying lots of other traditional foods - egg noodles, rice noodles, white pasta, buckwheat pasta. I draw the line at spelt pasta though.

Though I have a bee in my bonnet about over-processed food (not white pasta, which has been around for centuries), I also have a bee in my bonnet about certain types of assumption about foods - eg dairy bad/soy good, white bad/whole grain good, high fat bad/low fat good, four legs bad/two legs good etc.

Oh. That seems to have turned into a rant. Will go now.

of course, some people do like wholemeal things as well

"gratuitous fibre", PMSL

Inverted snobbery really has reached new heights this week

Love the idea of levying a shit-tax on people who eat "too much fibre"... can we impose a shit-tax on people who make up outrageously stupid pompous justifications for being too f*cking lazy to feed their children proper food, too?

Oh, yes, we've given wholemeal pasta to MIL I'm sure without her noticing. However, if you tell her it's brown rice, she won't touch the stuff. [rolling eyes emoticon]

Ooh, share your recipe please? I am fiddling with brown rice pud, last night's version was left to simmer for so long the milk all caramelised, making it all entirely brown. Quite tasty, but DS1 objected to the colour.

Why is it inverted snobbery, GS?
I'm quite a foodie snob, I'll have you know - which is why I think brown pasta is a travesty about which I am snobby in the fully upright sense

But of course in the interests of free speech all those who prefer it should carry in eating it - bon appetit!

Ah, that's more or less what I did. Only with a bit of cardamom, a bit of cinnamon, and sweetened with brown sugar and a bit of molasses.

The sweetness is from the milk caramelising, I'm sure. It is nice, though.

He will probably get used to the colour. It probably didn't help that I put it in his lunch today. I know the staff at school are sometimes ill-at-ease with the food I provide. (Red coleslaw was particularly noted upon.)

Oh, I did it with some coconut milk last time, and that came out very well. Good flavour, quite sweet and quite fatty. Kinda defeats the "purpose" of rice pudding in my house, though, which is to use up spare milk.

Steady on, Greensleeves. blu is one of the least snobby people I have ever met. And she has always been more or less upright not inverted on the occasions I have seen her. And even an upright good egg needs some dislikes in her life- I was sure the nation's cat and brown pasta lovers could cope with blu having a different opinion until I saw your post. Hope you are feeling better today!

but isn't it soluble fibre that's meant to be good for the bowel, not the bulking types (agree that filling up on veggies/fruit far nicer )

Hey, I didn't accuse Blu of being a snob. I know she isn't a snob. I made a general remark (well, several remarks) about inverted snobbery whereby people who think good nutrition is important attract catty remarks from those who want to make a virtue out of not being arsed.

I think Blu is right actually, the wholemeal/white pasta thing is a bit different because most foodies woldn't comsider replacing white pasta with wholemeal . I still find it annoying that some people think preferring wholemeal automatically implies that one is making a point. I just prefer it because I think it tastes nicer.

phew! Really sorry greensleeves. I misinterpreted.

I know some people do like wholemeal pasta, just as some people like celery. But they are two things I dislike very much, so I am always somewhat incredulous. Some people love tofu, too, which is another thing I tolerate in laksa and miso, but don't really get.

DS1 (7) is always saying to the much-more-catholic DS2 about my offerings: "You might think it is delicious, but that is just your opinion, and everyone has different opinions about food."