“In the mid-1950s, 18th Avenue was lined with little family shops where, if you didn’t speak Italian, you weren’t Italian enough,” Andrew Zimmern said on a 2014 episode of Bizarre Foods in which Queen-Ann Ravioli and Macaroni was featured. The 18th Avenue he speaks of is in Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst neighborhood, once the home of the borough’s own Little Italy. Eleven years later, the beloved Brooklyn pasta shop is getting attention once again.
Queen-Ann Ravioli and Macaroni has been in residence since 1972, and in that time has been making its own pasta in the back of the store. Incidentally, the back of the store was once a Cammareri Brothers Bakery, a name you might recognize from the film Moonstruck–the same family owned bakeries in real life.
The Queen-Ann products are updated seasonally and include everything from the eponymous ravioli (which Zimmern described as “ravioli heaven”) and macaroni to tortellini, tortelloni, fettuccine, and more. Freshness is key. As owner George Switzer said in 2016, “You come on Tuesday, you’re getting something that’s made Tuesday, you come on Thursday, here come the ravioli that were just made Thursday.”
George Switzer is a former NYPD officer, and he took over the long-running family business from his father-in-law. In that time, he became a “pasta mechanic” of sorts, and he knows how to fix all the machines.
Many of the machines are decades old, but the crowning glory is a Cevasco, Cavagnaro, & Ambrette machine from 1901. It’s quite possibly the only working one in existence, hearkening back to the days when a machine like this would have been moved via horse-drawn carriage. But even if it’s not, these machines were never exactly alike, so the pasta that comes out of it is completely unique.
Dough is kneaded in its base, then fed into the top of the machine where a tube presses it into fettuccine. The fettuccine is cut from the press with a knife. It’s then dried on a stick in the old tradition, a rarity in mass pasta production today. As Zimmern said, “This is a link to the way it was done 100 years ago.”
Switzer told content creators The Rec Team recently that he had someone from a pasta museum call up once to ask about the fettuccine machine, and when Switzer told him it was still working, the person dropped the phone in shock. “Apparently, Francis Ford Coppola tried to buy one of these machines because he thought it would make his pasta taste more ‘rustic,’” The Rec Team wrote on Instagram.
Cevasco, Cavagnaro, & Ambrette was located on 68 Greene Street at the time the machine was made. In 1927, they merged with I. De Francisci & Son to become The Consolidated Macaroni Machine Corporation–indeed, there was an announcement about it that year in The Macaroni Journal, the official publication of The National Pasta Association. This company ultimately became DEMACO, which still exists today, making pasta equipment in Florida.
And while many people take pasta-making classes today, the chances they’re doing it on a 124-year-old machine are next to none. If you want pasta made with it, though, you can visit Queen-Ann Ravioli to get a taste of the past. Or, as The Rec Team said, “you can walk into a restaurant or grocery that carries Queen Ann's products and taste pasta made on a 124-year-old machine. Just let that sink in for a second.”
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21 products that are gaslighting us into thinking they’re essential when they’re not
Some things in life are actually necessary—clean water, decent healthcare, basic human decency. But then there are the things that feel like they’re gaslighting us. The things we’re told we can’t live without, even though we survived just fine before they existed. Things like "smart" fridges, lawn fertilizer services, and yes—whole body deodorant.
Recently, our sister-site Upworthy asked their Facebook audience the question: What's a product or service that feels like it's gaslighting all of us into thinking it's necessary? More than 8,000 responses poured in. The answers were passionate, funny, and surprisingly unified.
Here are 21 products, services, and systems people called out for pretending to be essential—when they might actually be optional, overpriced, or flat-out invented.
1. Whole body deodorant
"Take a shower," said Shannon H.
“How did we ever manage all those years without it!! 😂😵💫” added Karen R.
Others noted it may help people with medical conditions—but for the average person, it's definitely a marketing creation.
2. Health insurance
It topped the list. Erica L. explained: “My doctor prescribes, the pharmacist issues meds, nurses care for people, surgeons do surgery—Health Insurance stands between health care and patients and says no, exclusively on whether they think it’s financially effective to treat you.”
Important note: Health insurance can provide life-saving access for many—but what people are frustrated by here is the profit-first system, not care itself.
3. The wedding industry
Multiple people slammed the high cost of modern weddings.
JoElla B. put it plainly: “We spend too much time and money planning one day, and not enough thought on how to blend two lives in a mutually beneficial one.”
Others called out expensive dresses, venues, and pressure to perform for social media.
4. Bottled water
Carole D. said: “Water in plastic bottles! Get a cup!”
While bottled water has value in emergencies, it’s often just filtered tap water—sold for profit in plastic.
5. Baby product overload
“Most baby products,” wrote Kelli O. “They really aren’t as needy and complicated as companies want us to think.”
6. Fabric softener
“It’s bad for clothes, bad for the Earth, bad for the wallet, and totally unnecessary,” said Gail H.
Some experts agree—many softeners contain chemicals that can reduce fabric lifespan and irritate skin.
7. Smart appliances
“Adding ‘phone controls’ to every appliance instead of making them last as long as they used to,” wrote Sherry S.
When your fridge needs a software update, something’s gone off the rails.
8. Makeup and anti-aging products
“Anything anti-aging,” said Melissa T., “Please just let me age into the gargoyle I was meant to become.”
Others questioned products designed to “fix” eyelashes, eyebrows, pores, and graying hair.
April S. added, “Products that women are convinced they MUST have in order to be ‘beautiful’ and therefore ‘loved.’”
9. Cosmetic surgery
Ron P. called out the industry as a whole. And while body autonomy matters, many commenters questioned whether insecurities are being commodified and sold back to us.
10. Ticketmaster and “convenience fees”
“Let’s go back to waiting in line at a record store,” wrote Nicole C.
Zaida B. added: “Convenience fee for online purchases—then charging $10 more at the actual event.”
11. Engagement rings
James P. didn’t mince words: “Engagement rings.”
The diamond industry has long been criticized for manufactured scarcity and marketing-fueled necessity.
12. Lawn chemicals and services
“Plant native grasses and you don’t have the pests or need for constant watering,” wrote Jamie B.
Environmental groups have raised similar concerns over runoff and unnecessary pesticide use.
13. AI and generative tech
“This stuff squeezes the lifeblood and individuality out of the human experience,” said Teresa L.
Saskia D. and others echoed skepticism about its necessity, even as many of us are being pushed to use it.
14. Funeral services
Amy W. shared: “My parents both have already paid to have themselves cremated and are very adamant that they do not want anything big done for them. In their words, ‘I won’t care, I’m dead.’”
Of course, some families find comfort in tradition—but the cost and pressure can feel overwhelming and predatory.
15. Rinse and repeat
Amy D. nailed it: “It’s just to sell more. Not even sure you need it at all.”
16. Credit Card Surcharges
Shawn S. took aim at the extra fees popping up at checkout: “That is the cost of doing business and shouldn’t be the burden of the purchaser.”
Many questioned why customers are increasingly being asked to pay extra simply for the convenience of using a card.
17. Constant phone upgrades
“Apple are notorious for releasing the same shit every year,” said Steph S.
Diana H. added, “Needing to upgrade our phones so frequently.”
Built-in obsolescence and marketing cycles drive most of the demand.
18. Vitamins and supplements
“If I took every supplement they say I NEED I wouldn’t need food. Nor could I afford it,” said Tausha L.
19. Fake pockets on women’s pants
Jessica W. said, “I have to buy men’s pants for work because women’s pants would just get torn up too fast!”
Form over function, and then they charge more for it.
20. Disposable everything
“The ‘convenience’ of disposable everything,” said Rick R.
It’s killing the planet—and draining wallets.
21. Tipping
“I’m sick of supplementing for corporations that refuse to pay a living wage,” wrote Susan V.
Tipping culture has evolved into something far removed from its original intent, and for many, it now feels like a burden shifted onto the customer.
The bigger picture
People aren’t saying all these things should vanish tomorrow. But when we start seeing convenience sold as necessity, and insecurity turned into billion-dollar markets, it's worth asking: who benefits from all of this?
And more importantly—who pays?
This article originally appeared earlier this year.