What's in your pandemic pantry? These staples turn home cooking into cuisine Today's pantries go way beyond the basics of just a few years ago. By Bill Ward Special to the Star Tribune February 3, 2021 — 9:35am Text size Copy shortlink: Molly Broder remembers it like it was yesterday. When she and her husband, Tom, opened Broder's Cucina Italiana in 1982, "no one in Minnesota had even heard of balsamic vinegar," she said. "Olive oil was almost impossible to find. Grocery stores only carried a tiny pyramid-shaped bottle called Pompeii, enough for one rarely cooked recipe." What a difference a generation makes. Actually, in kitchen terms, countless generations have transpired in just a few decades as items once considered esoteric have expanded kitchen shelves exponentially.