Let’s review.
Just outside of Lethbridge, Alta., Alex Russell grows durum.
R.K. Heggie Grain transports it to the Ellison Milling Co., also in Lethbridge. Ellison mills it into semolina and sends it across town to
Let’s Pasta Food Services. And Let’s Pasta makes it into delicious cannelloni, gnocchi, manicotti and tortellini.
But there is one more stop on the southern Alberta durum-to-pasta tour. About five blocks south of the Ellison Mill, on 13th St., you’ll find the London Road Market and its owner, Duane Gurr.
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According to Gurr, consumer taste for pasta is going through
a renaissance.
“Pasta used to be (considered) a cheap way to feed a family,” he said.
Families don’t cook that way these days, he said, adding that of all the types of pasta in the store, macaroni is the worst seller. His customers these days are trying out different varieties. Just among tortellini, there are six or seven kinds, he said.
“Fresh pasta has created a meal category for us (too).”
Trends are changing toward fresher food, he said. Customers are buying a fresh baguette, to go with their fresh pasta, and they won’t settle for parmesan in a bottle. They want a block of fresh cheese to grate themselves.
“Pasta sales are higher than ever,” he said, adding certain cooking shows are driving the trend.
Good sales of pasta are a recent phenomenon, according to Gurr. However, a couple of years ago, pasta became a taboo food.
“Everybody was on the Atkins diet except for me,” he said with a laugh. “Pasta took a bit of a hit during the carb craze.”
In the United States, low carbohydrate diets took a heavy toll on the pasta industry. For example, in 2004 New World Pasta saw a seven percent drop in sales due to the popularity of the diets and was forced to file for bankruptcy protection. In Canada, the trend wasn’t as strong as in the U.S., but Gurr admits there was an impact.
“There was a slowdown in pasta for about a two year period.”
Gurr, who’s been in the grocery store business since 1973, said his store plays a two part role in the food production process.
The elderly and shut-ins use the store’s shop-by-phone and delivery service, he said.
“That is something that we do that’s left over from the ’50s.”
The store also offers a daily shopping service to a nearby residential neighbourhood. People in that part of town are doing their shopping day to day, where as other grocery stores sell more week to week.
“(My clients) want to shop fresh,” he said.
London Road Market sells well known brand name pastas, including locally grown and processed dry or fresh varieties.
