GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
I can quite understand why people opt for 'San Marzano' tomatoes on there own. If I were and had a suitable piece of land, I'd get the 'San Marzano' seeds and grow them myself, then make my own tomato purèe! I'm sure that the soils of the USA are equally up to producing good stuff!
Roma tomatoes for commercial sale are widely grown in Florida, southern California and other states across the Southern United States. We grew some in our backyard garden a few years ago and I still have tomato paste left that I made from some of them. They were absolutely delicious.
So yes, I agree with you that yummy paste tomatoes can be grown in places other than San Marzano, Italy, and you've explained perfectly why so many companies here use misleading labels - it's all marketing hype. The TV chefs created a market for these by talking about them all the time, but there's no way to keep up with the demand. Therefore, there are knock-offs, just like with any other high-demand, high-cost item.