This post is part of a seven article report -- Food for thought: Best bets in food & beverage stocks.

American Italian Pasta Company (NASDAQ: AIPC) has caught the attention of two leading advisors -- Dennis Slothower and Elizabeth Harrow.

Slothower, editor of Stealth Stocks has chosen the issue as his latest "stock of the month" while Harrow, an analyst with Schaeffer's Investment Research, has selected the stock as her latest "undiscovered gem".

Slothower explains, "American Italian Pasta commenced operations in 1988 and believes it is the largest producer and marketer of dry pasta in North America.

"Pasta is a great recession food. With the recession continuing to be a long and deep one, pasta is the ideal food to stretch the budget.

In a difficult economic environment, it is often wise for investors to consider stocks in more defensive and relatively recession-resistant sectors. And one such area is food and beverage stocks.

As the long-standing market maxim goes, consumers can pull back on spending for vacations, remodeling, and new cars, but they still need to eat and drink.

In that light, I turned to nine leading newsletter advisors who serve up their current favorite ideas in the food and beverage sector: