I titled this post "Two Italian Cookies," because the bags I bought were clearly stamped, "Made in Italy." However, there's been some dispute about where the company's products are actually made, which went all the way to a court case. I'll get into that at the end of this post. Meanwhile, I tried the Baiocchi and Cuoricini cookies from the Mulino Bianco brand.
Mulino Bianco dates back to October of 1975. The Barilla company decided to make a biscuit (or "cookies" to some) line, beginning with five selections, called Tarallucci, Molinetti, Pale, Campagnole, and Galletti. The rest of the history of this brand on the official company website consists of mostly the various types of advertising of their products. Who created the ad campaign, what characters were used, all of that. Two items caught my interest. One, the bags used to contain the cookies/biscuits are colored yellow, as this is supposed to remind people of the tenderness sought during childhood.* Two, one of the characters in the ads/commercials was Piemmebi, a rather pathetic baker, who was constantly, and futilely, trying to woo the lovely Clementina. It sounded like a Pepe Le Pew-like situation, only hopefully a lot less rape-y.
In turn, the parent company, Barilla, dates back to 1877. A man named Pietro Barilla opened a bakery in Parma, Italy. In 1910 the business expanded into a pasta making factory. Since, Barilla has flourished. And how. It's reported to be the world's leading pasta maker, and produces nearly a quarter of the Italian pasta market. Barilla has manufacturing plants in Italy (of course), Greece, France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Turkey, Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. Along the way it's also bought up some other companies, such as the Greek MISKO pasta company, the Turkish Filiz Makarna pasta company, and the Swedish crispbread maker Wasabrod. Barilla has also sponsored the Italian national basketball team, the race car driver Alex Zanardi, and had tennis players Roger Federer and Coco Gauff as spokespeople.
Mulino Bianco Baiocchi cookies: These were round sandwich cookies, like an Oreo, about 4 cm. (about 1.5 inches) in diameter. They looked like a wheel, with 5 holes and the name embossed on them. The sandwich pieces were light brownish-yellow, and the hazelnut and cocoa cream filling layer was dark brown. The texture was dry and crunchy. The taste was alright. The filling was okay, but not great. Overall, the cookies were not as sweet as I'd like. So, like many Euro cookies/biscuits, they were blander, and not as sweet as I prefer. But not as bland as some Euro biscuits that I've had. Or, one step up, good but not great.
Mulino Bianco Cuoricini cookies: These were heart shaped, about 4.5 cm. by 4.25 cm. (or about 1.75 inches by 1.65 inches), with a light brownish-yellow color with visible chocolate chips. The texture was dry and crunchy. The taste was like a lot of chocolate chip cookies. Or solid. My favorite chocolate chip cookies are moist, and chewier, but these were alright. A tad less sweet than the typical American cookie, but still okay overall. I would slightly recommend both of these, especially to people who prefer European-style biscuits/cookies.
Now on to the dirt! First off, in 2013, owner Guido Barilla expressed some anti-gay sentiments, including opinions about adoption. However, after the resulting uproar, and threatened boycott, he apologized, and the company overall is now apparently an LBGTQ ally. Then, in 2022, two Americans, Matthew Sinatro and Jessica Prost, bought some Barilla pasta because it was made in Italy. But, they later learned that most Barilla pasta marketed in the U.S. is actually made in America, often from American ingredients. Enraged, they instituted a class action lawsuit. Barilla tried to have the case thrown out, but a judge ruled against that, claiming that the plaintiffs had suffered economic injury. I wasn't able to learn the results of this earth-shattering case. If it seems like I'm making light of this lawsuit, it's because I am. The two customers spent a total of $6. It seems like it's about the principle, and not the amount. Anyway, I guess it's debatable whether the cookies I had were actually made in Italy, as noted on the label, or in the U.S. It you're curious, it the event that I was duped, my reaction would be something like, "Huh, okay," and not a lawsuit.
* As a horror fan, I'm a little puzzled. Because there is a famous (or infamous) Italian murder mystery movie and book subgenre known as "giallo," which translates to "yellow" in Italian. This was the color of the pulp fiction novels that these types of stories were based on. I'll just say that the giallos I've seen are sleazy, brutal, gory, and gratuitous in nearly every manner possible. (In a good way, I highly recommend this subgenre to adult horror fans.) They didn't seem to evoke the search of tenderness of childhood at all. I guess, to paraphrase Simpsons' character Mayor Quimby, to Italians the color yellow "can be two things!"
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