Italians have reacted angrily to a modified traditional pasta recipe published on the British culinary portal Good Food, and even went so far as to file a complaint with the British ambassador, writes the BBC.
Cacio e pepe is a beloved Italian dish, known for its supposedly simple but at the same time surprisingly challenging preparation, and Good Food’s statement that it is a quick dish when there is no time to cook has irritated many. The British version of the recipe also lists four ingredients: spaghetti, black pepper, parmesan cheese and butter, and also recommends using cream as an alternative. The original recipe has only three ingredients – spaghetti, black pepper and pecorino cheese.
The fury of the Italian restaurant association has been so uncontrollable that the issue has reached the British embassy in Rome. The association’s head, Claudio Pica, said letters had been sent to the Good Food website’s owner, Immediate Media, and to the British ambassador, Edward Llewellyn, demanding an explanation.
Pica said that legendary dish, which comes from Rome and the Lazio region, has been a staple of Italian cuisine for many years, and has even been replicated outside Italy. The Italian added that he regretted having to point to the British website, but that the real recipe for cacio e pepe does not contain butter or parmesan.
Fuss has been widely covered by the Italian media, with a journalist for public broadcaster RAI saying that the BBC has always considered itself superior, but then makes the following: “Such a grave mistake.
The suggestion of adding some cream gave me goosebumps.”
Good Food was owned by BBC Studios until 2018.
Although chefs tend to experiment with cacio e pepe, the main source of concern is the misleading statements of the portal, presenting its variation of the recipe as the original and traditional. Italians often ironize the approach of foreigners to recipes, but this time a more painful chord has been touched, and there is talk of violating tradition.
Giorgio Eramo, the owner of a fresh pasta restaurant, serves cacio e pepe and other traditional dishes, and he said that the situation created by Good Food is terrible. What the portal published is not a cacio e pepe recipe, but a completely different dish. His restaurant also serves a variation of cacio e pepe with lime, but the Italian said it was acceptable. “It’s different, it’s for the summer, to make the pasta more fresh. But it doesn’t impact the tradition. It’s not like cream or butter. Lime is just a small change,” Eramo said.
The owner of a sandwich shop near the Vatican took particular issue with the inclusion of cream in the recipe and she said that anyone who uses cream in this recipe doesn’t know anything about cooking.
It’s common for Italians to get annoyed when foreigners mess with their food, like putting pineapple on pizza, drinking cappuccino after lunch, or adding cream to carbonara sauce. Eleonora, the owner of a lively café in central Rome, thinks Italians probably shouldn’t be so crazy about food, but she understands why that is so. She said Italian traditions are built on food, and when the whole world is messing with the only thing they have, it can be frustrating.
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