A container of stuffed pasta shells seemed a bit like an obscure choice even to me, but it breaks down well. Starting off one step back up the supply chain, my best friend, Gabby, made this meal for me while I was at home because we always talk about cooking for each other. She is Italian-American, and so the recipe she uses comes from her grandmother from Italy, to whom she credits many of her skills and recipes. To split the object into different components, I thought about the pasta itself, the cheese, the sauce, and the container she gave it to me in.

As for the pasta, she tends to buy things from the grocery store she works at locally, Hannaford’s, and the company she usually purchases from and prefers is Prince, although she had to buy Borilla this time with she says herself was “very saddening.” The sauce is completely made by her save for growing the tomatoes, which she bought from the company named Tuttoroso. She spices the sauce and makes it on the stove herself, giving it a full day to cook with the utmost care.

The cheese is Galbani ricotta cheese in a 32-ounce container and the same brand of mozzarella in their pound-size brick. Locatelli pecorino is added from a block of around 8 ounces, 4 of which are used each time. Both the mozzarella and pecorino are hand shredded, the mozzarella with a handheld grater and the pecorino with a cheese mill from her grandmother herself. 

The container is a plastic to-go container, manufactured by Rubbermaid in their TakeAlongs line. The container itself is made of transparent, mostly inflexible plastic, and the cover is a deep, vibrant red made of opaque plastic. The container tapers slightly towards the base but the overall shape is square with the corners being rounded for easy cleaning. On either side of the container, the transparent plastic extends past the seal of the lid in order to provide a safe place to hold after heating. This particular container size is marketed as their 5.3 cup size, despite its capacity being listed as 5.2 cups. The dimensions listed on the Rubbermaid website for the medium square size container are ‘6.372 by 6.982 by 4.125’ and by itself weighs .32 pounds. 

While Rubbermaid produces some 80% of their products domestically, food-grade containers with pull-off lids are not produced in the US, and are manufactured elsewhere, though Wikipedia says the opposite. It is not disclosed specifically where the TakeAlongs are made, but some say China. 

All in all the products themselves have to travel far, but the already-made dish was placed right into my hands by my caring friend who loves to see me well-fed and taken care of. 

https://www.rubbermaid.com/food-storage/everyday-use-containers/takealongs/takealongs-medium-square-food-storage-containers/SAP_2086707.html 
https://allamerican.org/investigation/rubbermaid/

https://allamerican.org/investigation/rubbermaid/