carbonara pasta at the heart of a controversy

It is one of the most famous recipes in Italian cuisine. However, for the past few days, carbonara pasta has been at the heart of a controversy. They would actually be American, nonsense for the Italians. “No! Can I say what I really think? It’s nonsense!”, assures a man. Another confirms: “Americans eat pizza with pineapple, that’s their cuisine.” In the center of Rome, even American tourists do not believe it. This is an article from FinancialTimes which set fire to the powder, provoking reactions from TV and the Italian press.

The first publication in 1953 in Chicago

So, Italian or American? Again, the carbonara is made of three ingredients: egg yolk, pork and pecorino. Barbara Agosti, a chef specializing in the recipe, believes she knows where this hypothesis comes from. “Some say it comes from the military rations the Americans had in the trenches during the First World War. […] Others say it comes from Italian shepherds”, she explains. As a good scientist, Alberto Grandi, the historian at the origin of the controversy, based himself on the first publication of 1953, in Chicago.