Good Food Pasta Recipes in Italian Rage

Italians responded to anger after publishing a recipe for a traditional Roman dish on the popular British Good Food website, which does not include the correct original ingredients and seems to be degrading it to a quick meal.

Pasta cacio e Pepe is a beloved Roman dish known for its simple and surprising challenges – so the description of it by good food can be quickly stirred for a “quick lunch” thrill.

The recipe also lists four ingredients – spaghetti, black pepper, parmesan and butter, and recommends double cream – only three: spaghetti, black pepper and pecorino.

Such anger is that the association representing Italian restaurants raises questions with the British Embassy in Rome.

An Italian food association said they were “surprised” to see the recipe on the UK’s highly respected British food website, owned by the BBC until 2024. Its president, Claudio Pica, said the letter had been sent to the Immediate Media, the website’s owner and British ambassador Edward Llewellyn.

“This iconic dish, traditionally from the Rome and Lazio region, has been a staple in Italian cuisine for many years and has therefore been copied even outside the borders of Italy,” Mr. Pika said.

He regrets contradicting the British ruins, but clarified that “the original recipe of Cacio e Pepe does not include parmesan and butter. There are no four ingredients, but three: pasta, pepper and Pecorino”.

“We’re always told you’re not as good as the BBC. Then they go and do it. It’s a serious mistake. Add some cream to the advice to give me the chicken skin.”

The Good Food brand was owned by BBC Studios (BBC’s commercial wing) until 2018, when it was sold to the direct Media Co-, and the BBC’s prefix was removed from its name last year.

While some chefs may try this dish, the main problem is that the site misleads readers by using its version as the original.

Italians often laugh at foreigners’ interpretation of recipes, but indignation in this case is about something deeper: tampering with tradition.

Maurizio and Loredana run a hotel in central Rome – staying in their family for four generations.

“You can do all the variations in the world – but you can’t use the original Italian name for them. And then it becomes something else.”

He added: “You have to surrender to Caesar’s Caesar!”

Giorgio Eramo runs a fresh pasta restaurant near St Peter’s Square – serving Cacio e Pepe and other traditional pasta dishes.

He said: “It’s horrible. It’s not Cacio e Pepe… published delicious food with butter and Parmesan, called ‘Pasta alfredo’. It’s another pasta.”

On his restaurant’s pasta plate, he offers Cacio e Pepe with lime, which is a variation. But he said it was okay.

“It’s different, it’s summer, to make the pasta fresher. But it doesn’t affect tradition. It’s not like cream or butter. Lime is just a small change.”

Nicola, who runs a sandwich shop near the Vatican, has had a particularly problematic situation with cream included.

“Cacio e Pepe is not made with butter; butter is for dessert. For heaven, no one who uses butter is aware of what cooking means.”

For example, Italians often get angry when foreigners modify food recipes – for example, pineapple pizza, cappuccino after noon or creamy Carbonara.

Eleonora, who works in a busy cafe in central Rome, believes that Italians may not have to be angry about such things, but understand why they do it.

“Our tradition is based on food. So if you touch the only thing we have around the world… it makes us feel a little sad.”

Good food main media has been exposed to the introduction.