Why we started Gusta

Six years ago on a rare trip to the supermarket (I rarely shop in person), something unusual caught my eye. Tucked away on a side shelf was a small column of off-the-shelves pasta bags, priced far higher than my go-by brand. I stood in front of those bags, hesitating, thinking why in a world of grocery discounts and special offers would some customers go in the opposite direction and spend so much more for pasta.

I bought a bag, partly out of curiosity, partly out of skepticism and thinking of a fun activity to do on a cold winter night and decided to organize a blind tasting with friends to verify whether these so-called premium pastas could really justify their price.

That night, my apartment looked more like a restaurant kitchen than a party area. Several pots of water simmered on the stove, each cooking a different brand of pasta, stripped of labels and hidden behind blind-test numbered bowls. I wanted nothing to distract us from the pasta itself, so I kept the seasoning to a minimum: a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of Parmigiano Reggiano. I handed out scorecards and asked everyone to record their impressions.

My regular “above-average” brand—the one I had always considered reliable—scored just average in the middle of the pack. The heavily advertised commercial brands came in last with a flat 1-star out of 5. And the two expensive pastas I had found in the off the shelves side column? They consistently rose to the top. Even my American friends, with no inherited biases toward Italian food traditions, tasted the difference immediately.

That simple experiment shook my assumptions. I had always believed pasta was pasta, with the only difference being packaging and a minor quality gap for my go-by brand. But clearly, flavor told another story. And I began to wonder: was better flavor just a matter of taste, or was it connected to something deeper—better grains, healthier processes, or even long-term well-being?

Those questions sent me down hours of research online and information gathering: durum wheat varieties, enriched flour, furosine, slow drying at low temperatures, pasteurization, enriched flour and 2-hours high-heat processing. I discovered ancient grains that had nearly disappeared from supermarket shelves, and techniques that respected ingredients rather than stripping them of character for the sake of efficiency and lower cost.

The more I learned, the more I felt a loss of trust with the packaged food world around me. That realization planted a seed: what if I built a brand dedicated to genuine ingredients informing both myself and customers about ingredients and preparation, and making each product accessible for anyone in the country to test it just once, like I had done with my blind tasting at home that day?

That was the beginning of our Gusta project, a business idea driven by a desire to learn more about taste, ingredients and health. And maybe help a few American customers sharing the same interests.

We started small and with very little financial funds. Our first product was almond biscotti, eliminating enriched flour, using egg yolks (some biscotti brands contain no eggs at all) and more almonds. From there we grew into pasta, olive oil preserves, vegetable patés, and eventually meal kits designed to offer high-quality everyday dinners.

The journey has been anything but simple. We discovered just how complex food logistics can be (exponential seasonality during the holidays just to name one!), how often marketing claims hide behind vague words like “authentic” or “natural,” and how difficult it is to ensure quality across every step. But we also discovered something more important: the people behind the ingredients. Farmers, millers, and small producers—many of whom had been working for generations—became our partners. Instead of sourcing from anonymous central markets, we decided to control our supply chain directly, building relationships that gave us trust and accountability.

Today at Gusta we try to share not just the finished product but the entire story. While developing our social media presence we will show the fields where our tomatoes are dried, the mills where our grains are ground, the hands that prepare what eventually reaches our customers. Because for us, sharing our journey with our customers is just as important as the final product.

Is investing your hard earned money in premium ingredients really worth it? I can’t point to a scientific study proving that 24-hours dried pasta or farm-to-jar vegetables guarantee better health. But if I had to bet between spending money on genuine ingredients vs. premium cars or housing, I choose quality ingredients every time. Food has a quiet power—it shapes how we feel each day, it connects us to family and friends, and it anchors our memories. For me that makes one of the most meaningful investments I can make in life.