This post was originally published on this site
Talk about some pricey pasta.
If you’re among those desperately seeking a box of the now-discontinued Ronzoni pastina, you may have to head to eBay
EBAY,
to buy it. And you’ll pay dearly for the miniature, star-shaped pasta variety.
Boxes that once cost a couple of bucks are now being listed for $15 and up. One seller is even hawking a 12-pack for $180.
Those who crave pastina, a type of pasta often used in soups or turned into a porridge-like breakfast offering, are clearly buying. Another seller, who’s asking $19.99 for a box, indicates that they’ve sold 83 so far.
Ronzoni announced earlier this month that it would no longer be selling its beloved pastina. Ronzoni is part of 8th Avenue, a private company behind a number of consumer brands. A spokesperson for 8th Avenue explained that the pastina’s “small size and star-shape require specialized production from a third-party manufacturer” and that “our long-term manufacturer informed us they would cease producing Ronzoni Pastina effective January 2023.”
The spokesperson added, “Despite exhaustive efforts, we have been unable to identify a viable, new manufacturer who could make Pastina in the same shape, size and standards that Ronzoni customers have come to expect from this comforting classic.”
Other pasta companies do offer their own versions of pastina, but Ronzoni fans say they just don’t measure up. Fans took to social media to mourn the loss of the Ronzoni product. Even Bon Appétit, the popular food publication, weighed in.
This is hardly the first time that sellers on eBay have tried to tap into a sudden market for an item that’s been discontinued or is suddenly hard to find.
When Twinkies, the popular snack cake, stopped being produced for a period, sellers were asking astronomical sums — as much as $5,000 for a single Twinkie, according to the Atlantic. “Snackcakepocalypse is nigh,” the publication reported at the time.
