Nancy Young wrote:
>
>Have you noticed that there are only a few shapes in the dried
>pasta section any more? Maybe just where I live. So many
>brands taking up space now, no room for ditalini or even
>alphabet pasta.

Where I live I find most pasta shapes, The markets carry several
brands including imported. between all the brands I find most shapes.
The only shape I don't regulary find are alphabets. My understanding
is that alphabets are the most expensive shape to produce as it
requires 26 separate extrusion dies, which all need regular
maintenence and/or replacement. I find alphabets in a couple of the
imported brands but they are priced twice as much at the other shapes
in those brands, and the letter shapes are some strange font.