Imagine the British Embassy receiving an urgent  letter – not about trade or diplomacy, but about butter in pasta.

Who knew that a rogue knob of butter could spark a near-diplomatic crisis?

Italian restaurateurs have protested in what they see as a high-culinary betrayal, and yes, the British Embassy may now be fielding more pasta complaints than trade inquiries.

When the UK food website “Good Food” (formerly BBC Good Food) called Roman cacio e pepe “a speedy lunch” made with four ingredients, including butter and Parmesan, Italians were outraged. 

Purists pointed out that the authentic Roman dish has just three staples: pasta (often tonnarelli), black pepper, and pecorino Romano – no more, no less.

Claudio Pica, president of Fiepet-Confesercenti in Rome and Lazio, formally lodged a protest – writing both to the media company Immediate Media, which publishes Good Food and the British ambassador in Rome for what he called an “absurd mystification” of culinary tradition.

Italian media had a field day. One newspaper, riffing on Britain’s national anthem, quipped, “God save the cacio e pepe”

In response to the uproar, the website updated its recipe, restoring the three-ingredient classic: spaghetti, pecorino, black pepper, combined by whisking cheese and pasta water into a creamy emulsion. 

However, in a culinary olive branch that didn’t quite land, a tip still suggests that struggling cooks may add double cream to help the sauce come together, which is heresy to many Italians.

This controversy is just the latest in Italy’s passionate resistance to foreign reinterpretations of its cuisine. 

The New York Times’ smoky tomato carbonara in 2021 and other missteps such as pineapple on pizza or cream in carbonara provoked similar ire.

IOL Lifestyle

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