Posted on 08/30/2024 6:42:36 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Chefs and gastronomes recoil in horror as Heinz introduces tins of spaghetti carbonara to supermarket shelves.
The unveiling of Heinz’s new tinned easy-meal set X (Twitter) alight with declarations of disgust recently. Top Italian chef Alessandro Pipero asked ‘Do you mean in a tin, like cat food?’ on hearing that Heinz is was promoting its new canned version of the classic Italian dish, while Wanted in Rome on X reported Italians saying that they ‘wouldn’t even give it to a stray cat.’
‘Spaghetti Carbonara doesn’t contain cream’, say all Italians
Part of the outrage is what many food lovers see as the continued ‘Americanisation’ of Italian cuisine. Ask any Italian and they will firmly assure you that, unlike the Heinz variety, Spaghetti Carbonara does not contain cream or bacon or parsley, while the ingredients on the Heinz tin list pancetta, cornflour, skimmed milk powder, cheese powder, sugar, garlic flavouring, onion extract and dried parsley. This quick and easy to prepare classic ‘carbonara’ part of the recipe only has 4 ingredients: egg yolks, black pepper, guanciale and olive oil.
The internationalisation of classic regional dishes has been berated by many in recent years with TV chefs like Nigella Lawson who was accused of killing Italian food when in 2017 she added 60ml of double cream to her version, or Jamie Oliver who very nearly started a war with Spain by adding chorizo to his idea of Paella.
I’ll admit, that Heinz’ canned “spaghetti carbonara” sounds horrifying. I’ll tell you one thing: there’s no way that Heinz family gigolo John F. Kerry would eat this thing. But there’s no reason for anyone in Italy or the UK or anywhere else to lose sleep over it either. If some people try it and like it, it’s not doing any harm. If it’s inedible crap, it’ll be off the market soon enough.
My
Mom gave us canned spaghetti and ravioli. Canned pasta is loathesome.
I have no doubt an effort at a carbonara sauce would take it to a new low
I ate tons of Franco-American canned spaghetti in the 1950s. Today, I usually make it with durum semolina pasta, a jar of good quality sauce such as Rao’s, ground buffalo and mushrooms, and I might throw in some bell peppers or extra tomatoes.
Gag me with a spoon.
Pope says earth is crying. Nope, those are Italians he hears wailing.
I occasionally ate “Spaghetti Os” as a 4-6 year old and apparently thought they were fine. Years later when I was older teen, I was a working a kind of camp and someone heated up a few cans of “Spaghetti Os,” and I was shocked at how bad they were. Over a dozen years, my tastes had apparently change.
I recently tried Campbell’s chicken carbonara. Not buying it again.
CC
There are four Ingredients: egg yolks, black pepper, guanciale, and pecorino Romano cheese. The olive oil is not needed, as the guanciale’s fat takes its place. The fifth ingredient is of course the pasta.
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