Pastificio Boulder | CO

Growing up in Brazil, Claudia Bouvier was always surrounded by incredible artisanal foods—and her large Italian family. After moving to the US for her career as a Civil Engineer and Interior Designer, she often dreamed about the fresh pastas of her childhood and the memories of her travels in Italy. While working in New York City, she met Ted Steen, the owner and head brewer at Bank Street Brewing Co. in Stamford, CT. Together, the couple relocated to Boulder, Colorado: a city with a deep appreciation for local food and an engaged population of environmental activists.

It was at CU Boulder, while Claudia was pursuing her Masters in Engineering, that the business plan for Pastificio Boulder started to take shape. Joining Catalyze, CU’s incubator program, Claudia began to apply entrepreneurship and innovation concepts to artisanal, health-minded food production. Meanwhile, Ted was increasingly engaged in the realm of sustainability and the impact of an industrial food system on both people and the planet. In particular, he began researching how ingredients grown and processed in a more natural, unadulterated state could counteract both environmental issues and growing health concerns, like gluten sensitivity. Together, Ted and Claudia began to investigate the benefits of heirloom and ancient varieties of wheat – from their digestibility and nutritional benefits, to their wide range of earthy, sweet and nutty flavors.

When they committed to launching Pastificio Boulder in 2018, neither Claudia nor Ted knew how fast it would grow. Yet by reimagining a pantry staple, they have joined an influential community of entrepreneurs and activists seeking to eliminate the negative nutritional and environmental impacts of our mass-produced food system. Along the way, they’ve partnered with like-minded farmers committed to growing organic, heirloom grains. They’ve milled their own fresh flour, and experimented with numerous small-scale pasta production and drying techniques. Most importantly, they’ve discovered that making nutrient-dense artisanal pasta—much like slow-fermented bread or natural wine—is a process that can’t be automated. From the protein content of each season’s wheat, to the ever-changing humidity of their production kitchen, each box of Pastificio Boulder dried pastas is attentively crafted by human hands to nourish your friends and family.