GASTRONOMY – Nothing shocks Italians like touching on their culinary heritage. Already outraged by ketchup pasta and pineapple pizza, they are now up in arms against a new gastronomic heresy: canned spaghetti carbonara.
Marketed in the United Kingdom by the food giant Heinz under the name #NoDramaCarbonara, they are intended to appeal to Generation Z consumers looking for “quick and convenient” food, Heinz specifies on its website. “Whether enjoyed as a comforting meal after a long day or shared with friends while watching the latest TV series, Heinz spaghetti carbonara is the ideal solution for a no-fuss dinner,” Alessandra de Dreuille, director of meals at Kraft Heinz, specifies in the press release. And also an economical dinner, since a can is sold at the modest price of 1.75 pounds sterling (2.08 euros).
While the group’s marketing strategy appears to be paying off – canned carbonara pasta is already out of stock in the UK – it has not won over everyone, especially the Italians. Interviewed by The Times, chef Alessandro Pipero, whose Michelin-starred restaurant in the heart of Rome has earned him the nickname “the king of carbonara”, simply refused to try the canned spaghetti. “You mean in a can, like cat food,” he fumed when offered a tasting. “I don’t really know what to say to that, shouldn’t we stick to putting things like Coca-Cola in a can?” he added.
It’s not just culinary professionals who are offended by Heinz’s discovery. On X, one user commented: “You leave us with no choice but to declare war on Heinz for this despicable attack on our culture and culinary traditions.” Italy is now mobilizing. Andiamo.”
Even Italian Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè made a sharp remark about X: “Italian cuisine is serious business. As Alberto Sorti would say in An American in Rome: ‘We’ll feed canned carbonara to the rats.’”
Despite the harsh criticism, Heinz can still count on some support, such as that of the Italian media outlet Cibo Today, which points out that carbonara pasta, far from being an ancestral recipe, is a fairly recent invention. The hypothesis cited by the outlet is that it was invented in 1944 by a chef to feed Allied troops and originally contained egg yolk powder so that it could be eaten… in a can. Spaghetti carbonara is “a dish prepared in an emergency, in the absence of great economic possibilities and in the simplest and most organized way possible. “It is precisely the demands of today’s young people that Heinz wants to meet,” writes Cibo Today.
Which further annoys those who are offended by the absence of guanciale (dried pork cheek) and egg yolk in the Heinz recipe, replaced by pancetta, cornstarch, skimmed milk powder, powdered cheese, sugar, garlic flavoring, onion extract and dried parsley.
This article is originally published on huffingtonpost.fr
