Rice-A-Roni

Last updated

Rice-A-Roni
Pasta Roni
Pasta Roni-Rice a Roni Logos.png
Rice-A-Roni.jpg
Product typeFlavored rice, pasta mixes
Owner Quaker Oats Company
CountryUnited States
Introduced1958;66 years ago (1958)
MarketsU.S.
Previous ownersGolden Grain Macaroni Company
Tagline"The San Francisco Treat"
Website ricearoni.com

Rice-A-Roni is a boxed food mix that consists of rice, vermicelli pasta, and seasonings. To prepare, the rice and pasta are browned in butter, then water and seasonings are added and simmered until absorbed. It is a product of Quaker Oats Company, a subsidiary of PepsiCo.

Contents

History

In 1890, Italian-born immigrant Domenico DeDomenico [1] moved to California, where he established a fresh produce store. A successful businessman, he married Maria Ferrigno from Salerno, Italy. Back home, her family owned a pasta factory, so in 1912 she persuaded him to establish a similar business in the Mission District of San Francisco. The enterprise was "Gragnano Products, Inc." It delivered pasta to Italian stores and restaurants in the area.

DeDomenico's sons, Paskey, Vince (1915–2007), Tom, and Anthony, worked with him. In 1934, Paskey changed the name to "Golden Grain Macaroni Company". Tom's wife, Lois, was inspired by the pilaf recipe she received from Armenian immigrant Pailadzo Captanian, to create a dish of rice and macaroni, which she served at a family dinner. In 1958, Vince invented Rice-A-Roni by adding a dry chicken soup mix to rice and macaroni. It was introduced in 1958 in the Northwestern United States and went nationwide three years later. Because of its origins, it was called "The San Francisco Treat!" [2] It is loosely based on the Levantine pilaf dish rizz bi-sha'riyya. [3] [4]

After a trip to Italy in 1964, Vince returned with the idea for "Noodle Roni Parmesano", based on the classic Noodles Alfredo. As the product line extended with other shapes and sauces it was renamed from Noodle Roni to Pasta Roni in 1995. In 1986, Quaker Oats Company purchased the Golden Grain Company from the DeDomenico family. [5] In 2001, the Quaker Oats Company was purchased by PepsiCo.

American Italian Pasta Company bought the Golden Grain brand in 2003, but the sale did not include Rice-a-Roni, which remained with the Quaker Oats division of PepsiCo. [6]

Rice-a-Roni is marketing low-sodium versions of its primary products. The company has marketed a line of products with brown rice.

In 2024, a third line of products called Mac-A-Roni was released in cheddar and white cheddar flavors. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macaroni</span> Type of pasta

Macaroni is pasta shaped like narrow tubes. Made with durum wheat, macaroni is commonly cut in short lengths; curved macaroni may be referred to as elbow macaroni. Some home machines can make macaroni shapes but, like most pasta, macaroni is usually made commercially by large-scale extrusion. The curved shape is created by different speeds of extrusion on opposite sides of the pasta tube as it comes out of the machine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pasta</span> Cooked dough food in Italian cuisine

Pasta is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Pasta was traditionally only made with durum, although the definition has been expanded to include alternatives for a gluten-free diet, such as rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils. While Asian noodles are believed to have originated in China, pasta is believed to have independently originated in Italy and is a staple food of Italian cuisine, with evidence of Etruscans making pasta as early as 400 BCE in Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spaghetti</span> Type of pasta

Spaghetti is a long, thin, solid, cylindrical pasta. It is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine. Like other pasta, spaghetti is made of milled wheat, water, and sometimes enriched with vitamins and minerals. Italian spaghetti is typically made from durum-wheat semolina. Usually the pasta is white because refined flour is used, but whole wheat flour may be added. Spaghettoni is a thicker form of spaghetti, while spaghettini is a thinner form. Capellini is a very thin spaghetti, while vermicelli refers to intermediate widths, varying between the United States and Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breakfast cereal</span> Processed food made from grain

Breakfast cereal is a breakfast food made from processed cereal grains. It is traditionally eaten as part of breakfast, or a snack food, primarily in Western societies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noodle</span> Staple food made from unleavened dough, commonly long and thin

Noodles are a type of food made from unleavened dough which is either rolled flat and cut, stretched, or extruded, into long strips or strings. Noodles are a staple food in many cultures and made into a variety of shapes. The most common noodles are either those derived from Chinese cuisine or Italian cuisine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kraft Dinner</span> Boxed macaroni and cheese product

Kraft Dinner in Canada, Kraft Mac & Cheese in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, Mac and Cheese in the United Kingdom and internationally, is a nonperishable, packaged macaroni and cheese product. It is made by Kraft Foods Group and traditionally cardboard-boxed with dried macaroni pasta and a packet of processed cheese powder. It was introduced under the Kraft Dinner name simultaneously in both Canada and the U.S. in 1937. The brand is particularly popular with Canadians, who consume 55% more boxes per capita than Americans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macaroni and cheese</span> Pasta dish

Macaroni and cheese is a dish of macaroni and a cheese sauce, most commonly cheddar sauce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghirardelli Chocolate Company</span> American confectioner founded in 1852

The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company is an American confectioner, wholly owned by Swiss confectioner Lindt & Sprüngli. The company was founded by and is named after Italian chocolatier Domenico Ghirardelli, who, after working in South America, moved to California. The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company was incorporated in 1852, and is the third-oldest chocolate company in the US, after Baker's Chocolate and Whitman's.

Post Consumer Brands is an American consumer packaged goods food manufacturer headquartered in Lakeville, Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Koshary</span> National dish of Egypt

Koshary, kushari or koshari is Egypt's national dish and a widely popular street food. It is a traditional Egyptian staple, mixing pasta, Egyptian fried rice, vermicelli and brown lentils, and topped with chickpeas, a garlicky tomato sauce, garlic vinegar, and crispy fried onions. Sprinklings of garlic vinegar and hot sauce are optional.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rice vermicelli</span> Thin dried noodles made of rice

Rice vermicelli is a thin form of noodle. It is sometimes referred to as "rice noodles" or "rice sticks", but should not be confused with cellophane noodles, a different Asian type of vermicelli made from mung bean starch or rice starch rather than rice grains themselves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott's Porage Oats</span>

Scott's Porage Oats is a Scottish breakfast cereal sold in the United Kingdom. The former Scott's Company was established in Glasgow by A&R Scott, two brothers who made a partnership to manufacture oat products. Scott's was purchased by Quaker Oats in 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent DeDomenico</span> American entrepreneur

Vincent Michael "Vince" DeDomenico, Sr. was an American entrepreneur, one of the inventors of Rice-A-Roni, and a founder of the Napa Valley Wine Train.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ebro Foods</span> Food processing company

Ebro Foods, S.A., formerly Ebro Puleva, is a Spanish food processing company. Ebro Foods is the world's largest producer of rice and the second biggest producer of pasta. The company's head office is in Madrid.

Pailadzou A. Captanian or Gaptanian was an Armenian-American survivor of the Armenian genocide, memoirist, and poet. She is also credited with inspiring the creation of Rice-A-Roni which is based on her own recipe of Armenian pilaf.

American Italian Pasta Company (AIPC) was a pasta manufacturing company with corporate offices in Kansas City, Missouri, and plants in Excelsior Springs, Missouri; Columbia, South Carolina; Tolleson, Arizona; and Verolanuova, Italy. APIC was acquired by Ralcorp in 2010, ConAgra Foods in early 2013,TreeHouse Private Brands, Inc. in 2016 and Winland Foods in December 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quaker Oats Company</span> American food conglomerate

The Quaker Oats Company, known as Quaker, is an American food conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. As Quaker Mill Company, the company was founded in 1877 in Ravenna, Ohio. In 1881, Henry Crowell bought the company and launched a national advertising campaign for Quaker Oats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arabic rice</span>

Arabic rice or rice with vermicelli is a traditional preparation of rice in the Middle East, a variant of the simpler cooked rice recipe, but adding lightly toasted vermicelli. The rice cooking method is known as pilaf, by which the rice is fluffy, light and does not stick. Traditionally, a long-grain rice, such as basmati or jasmine, is used, although short-grain rice, such as bomba or Misri ("Egyptian"), can be used perfectly. Brown rice can also be used.

References

  1. "Heritage".
  2. Finz, Stacy (July 16, 2006). "RICE-A-REDUX / After a 7-year hiatus, it's billed once again as the San Francisco treat". San Francisco Chronicle .
  3. Perry, Charles (October 28, 1998). "The Middle Eastern Treat". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
  4. Weiss-Armush, Anne Marie (1994). "Vermicelli Rice (Ruz ma Shayreeyeh)". The Arabian Delights Cookbook: Mediterranean Cuisines from Mecca to Marrakesh. Lowell House. p. 168. ISBN   156565126X.
  5. Sherrod, Pamela (June 14, 1986). "Quaker Oats To Purchase Golden Grain". Chicago Tribune .
  6. Roth, Stephen (January 18, 2004). "American Italian Pasta will turn inward after $43M purchase". Kansas City Business Journal .
  7. Sosland, Zachary (April 22, 2024). "Rice-A-Roni debuts mac and cheese products". Baking Business. Baking Business. Retrieved June 5, 2024.

Further reading