teh Forum

Oh please...

You know, at first I thought it was all about quakers. But, upon reflection, I realized that:
Young Domenico DeDomenico immigrated to America from Messina, Sicily, in 1890. After five years in New York and Boston, Domenico moved west and settled in San Francisco where he started a fresh produce business.

Domenico—now using his Ellis Island-given name, Charlie—was introduced via portrait to the lovely Maria Ferrigno who lived in Vietri sul Mare, a small town near Salerno, Italy. A courtship by letter ensued, and Charlie asked Maria to join him in America. Just eleven days after Maria arrived in San Francisco, they were married.

By now, Charlie had four thriving produce stores and rose six days a week at 2:00 A.M. to buy fruits and vegetables. Maria soon tired of this and persuaded her husband to forgo produce in favor of a macaroni business. Maria’s family, the Ferrignos, had been making pasta in Italy for generations.

In 1912, Domenico "Charlie" DeDomenico opened a small pasta factory on Valencia Street in San Francisco’s Mission District, called Gragnano Macaroni Factory.
Gragnano was a town in the mountains behind Sorrento where some of the finest macaroni products in Italy were made. Charlie and Maria knew their Italian-American customers would understand the meaning of that name. A real family business, the company flourished under the stewardship of Charlie and his sons Paskey, Anthony, Vincent and Tom, along with Maria’s father Antonio Ferrigno and her brother.

In 1934, the name was changed to Golden Grain Macaroni Company to appeal to American customers.
In the same year, the DeDomenicos pioneered the use of clear cellophane bags for pasta packaging. Until that time, pasta had been sold in bulk without brand names. West Coast history was made when the first order of packaged Golden Grain brand pasta was sold to Safeway.

Other innovations continued to be developed as Golden Grain grew. New shapes were constantly introduced, even one called rooster-crest. Eventually, some of these old-time shapes moved over to make room for more contemporary shapes like current-day gemelli and fusilli. But always, the variety of shapes Golden Grain offered their customers was a company goal -- one that continues to this day.

Quality and customers always came first for the family business, and recipes soon appeared on Golden Grain packages to give consumers ideas for meals.
Golden Grain Marinara Sauce was introduced in 1951. Based on Maria DeDomenico’s homemade recipe, the sauce was developed to have the full flavor of fresh tomatoes and spices.

As Golden Grain matured, Mission Macaroni Company in Seattle was purchased in 1956. Then not too long ago, in 1995, Golden Grain officially adopted the name Golden Grain-Mission to bring these two brands together under one label.



Today, innovation, a wide variety of shapes, top quality pasta, and delicious recipes continue to be the hallmark of Golden Grain-Mission Pasta.

Recent new shapes include cavatappi -- a hollow, gently-twisted pasta with ridges -- and rainbow penne rigate -- classic penne in three flavors, tomato, spinach and plain pasta.

We hope you will enjoy our products and try our recipes. And of course, we’re always interested in hearing from you.


Buon Appetito!

!!!!!

Mi dispiace.

...

Vorrei mangiare dela pasta.

At what point in the story does 'Tony' have 'Vinny' whacked in the flour warehouse? Was that in II or III?

And does it have English subtitles?

In 1890, 19-year old Domenico DeDomenico traveled to America from Italy. The immigration officer at Ellis Island, misunderstanding his Italian name, wrote "Charlie" on the immigration papers, so Domenico used the name Charlie for rest of his life. Moving from New York to Boston, he worked as a barber for three years until he could read and write English. In 1895, Charlie moved to California, where he heard the streets were paved with gold. He started a fresh produce store. Over a ten-year period his business thrived and he added three more stores.

In the tradition of family arrangements, Charlie's closest friend gave him a portrait of Maria Ferrigno from Salerno, Italy. Charlie sent for Maria, and after a brief courtship, they married and later produced six children. Maria's family sold their pasta factory in Italy to join the family in California. In 1912, Maria persuaded Charlie to set up a pasta factory, Gragnano Products, Inc., in the Mission district in San Francisco. The successful business sold 25 and 50-pound boxes of pasta to Italian stores and restaurants in the area. Four of Charlie's sons, Paskey, Vince, Tom and Anthony, worked with him to build the pasta business.

In 1934, the oldest brother, Paskey, proposed a new name for the company based on a newspaper ad for "Golden Grain" smoking Tobacco. The family agreed that Golden Grain was a good name for macaroni and the name "Golden Grain Macaroni Company" was adopted.

A neighbor's Armenian style rice pilaf recipe inspired the original idea for RICE-A-RONI®, a mixture of rice and macaroni. Tom's wife Lois served the dish at a family dinner, and it became a favorite of the DeDomenico families. In 1958, Vince mixed a dry chicken soup mix, made at the plant, with rice and vermicelli to create the San Francisco treat which he named RICE-A-RONI. The unique preparation of the dish, and its wonderful flavor and convenience, made the dish one of America's favorite products. The RICE-A-RONI jingle, The San Francisco Treat® slogan, "Saute and Simmer" and scenic San Francisco became familiar to every household in America in the 60's as the product was introduced through television advertising.

A trip to Italy in 1964 inspired Vince to develop Noodle Roni Parmesano based on the classic "Noodles Alfredo" dish served to him at Alfredo's restaurant in Rome. With the growing popularity of pasta, the line has expanded with new shapes and sauces and has been renamed to PASTA RONI to better describe its diverse shapes.

The Quaker Oats Company purchased the Golden Grain Company from the DeDomenico family in 1986. Vince de Domenico continues to promote beautiful Northern California through his venture, the Napa Valley Wine Train.