A UK recipe for a popular Roman pasta dish has sparked fury in Italy after it allegedly botched the meal by adding two additional ingredients.
The cacio e pepe recipe featured on Good Food, a website previously under the BBC’s ownership, described the classic pasta dish as a ‘store cupboard favourite’ and suggested it could be made with just four basic ingredients: spaghetti, pepper, parmesan, and butter.
But Italians have hit back with fury. The real deal, they say, uses just three ingredients – tonnarelli pasta, black pepper, and pecorino Romano.
In response, Fiepet Confesercenti, Italy’s foremost trade association for restaurateurs, is calling for an official correction, arguing that the post misrepresents traditional cuisine and disrespects Italian culinary heritage.
They have even raised the issue with the British Embassy in Rome in a bid to ‘safeguard this iconic dish’.
This error, which has been available online for a while, only recently drew significant criticism from passionate food enthusiasts, although some astute readers had pointed it out earlier.
But a video accompanying the recipe showing a thick knob of butter melting into a pan seems to have been the final insult.
Claudio Pica, who leads the Rome division of Fiepet Confesercenti, expressed ‘astonishment’ at finding such a recipe on a respected and widely visited food site. He mentioned that letters have been sent to Immediate Media, the website’s owner, and to the British ambassador to Rome, Edward Llewellyn.
The Good Food cacio e pepe recipe suggested using spaghetti, pepper, parmesan, and butter to prepare the dish.
The real deal, Italians say, uses just three ingredients – tonnarelli pasta, black pepper, and pecorino Romano
Fiepet Confesercenti, which represents a significant number of Italian restaurateurs, is pressing for an official correction, stating that the post misleads readers and undermines Italian culinary traditions. Pictured: Guests enjoying a meal outdoors in Florence, Italy.
‘This iconic dish, traditionally from Rome and the Lazio region, has been a staple of Italian cuisine for years, so much so it has been replicated even beyond Italy’s borders,’ he said.
‘We regret to contradict the historic and authoritative British media, but the original recipe for cacio e pepe excludes parmesan and butter. There are not four ingredients, but three: pasta, pepper and pecorino.’
He admitted that while chefs might experiment from time to time, misrepresenting such a dish as the authentic original is a step too far.
Unsurprisingly, Italian media has been gleefully lapping up the culinary scandal.
Rome’s Il Messaggero quipped: ‘Paraphrasing the famous British anthem ‘God save the king’, Rome restaurateurs are now saying: ‘God save the cacio e pepe’.’
But this is not the first time foreign cooks have tampered with Italian classics and been burned.
In 2021, the New York Times sparked a similar uproar with its ‘smoky tomato carbonara’ – a version of the traditional Roman dish that included tomatoes.
Despite backlash from Coldiretti, Italy’s powerful farming lobby, the recipe resurfaced again in 2023 – suggesting the US paper was unbothered by Italian disapproval.
And Italians aren’t shy about calling out ‘crimes’ against their cuisine, from chicken stirred into pasta to pineapple on pizza.
The New York Times also once stirred outrage in the UKby describing the Yorkshire pudding – a Sunday roast staple – as a ‘large, fluffy pancake’ suitable for breakfast, lunch or dessert.
