Fregula is in. Chefs in the US have discovered the southern Sardinian pasta, and are rapidly bringing it to the forefront of culinary consciousness. This means that it will flare out and then completely disappear from the US in a year or so.

In Italy, any particular food item you hear about depends on regional traditions, in the US, it depends on the fickleness of time. We are now deep into fregula time. Enjoy it while it lasts. Like true love, you can expect three years max.