In Italy, Heinz is stirring up anger with its canned spaghetti carbonara – Technologist

Carbonara is no joke. Often the subject of outrageous indignation on the part of even the most culinarily patriotic Italians, the unfortunate tendency of foreigners to reappropriate the Roman recipe in their own sauces has once again caused a scandal in Italy. On Thursday, August 29, the American food company Heinz, famous for its ketchup and baked beans, announced on its British X and Instagram accounts that it would be launching a new product in the UK in September – canned spaghetti carbonara priced at £1.75 (€2.08). For some, of course, the can evokes an industrial nightmare, contrary to the imaginary image of a traditional dish requiring a certain skill in the harmonious assembly of a few carefully chosen ingredients.

The official recipe for pasta alla carbonara includes nothing but egg yolk, pecorino, a sheep’s milk cheese, and, with a twist of the pepper mill, slices of dried pig’s cheek, guanciale, preserved in their own fat. But not only has Heinz packed its spaghetti in cans, it has also imposed the ever-controversial and degrading partnering of cream with its spaghetti. And, perhaps more seriously, the manufacturer has even replaced guanciale with pancetta, a sausage made from pork belly. Nothing to do, then, with Roman carbonara.

“The time has come for a no-fuss, no-drama carbonara,” proclaimed Heinz’s communicators in their social media posts. Has it? Is it just a question of extolling the virtues of something easy to heat up in the microwave and practically ready to eat? Or is it to mock in advance the reactions that the product’s launch would inevitably provoke in Italy?

The latter, in any case, have made themselves heard, notably through the voice of TV chef Gianfranco Vissani, who, during an interview with the Adnkronos news agency, saw fit to thunder threateningly at Heinz. “I’d tell them to go to hell. With what they’re offering, they’re destroying Italian culture and our cuisine. They should be ashamed of themselves.” For lovers of fine food, “with these initiatives, companies are trying to innovate for themselves. (…) There’s nothing that represents Italy beyond the name.”

A ‘horrible idea’

Also at Adnkronos, Italian chef Cristina Bowerman, of the Michelin-starred Glass Hosteria in Rome, denounced the “bastardization of [Italian] cuisine.” For her, it’s a “horrible idea,” because, according to the chef, “the risk is that consumers will try this canned version before the original, and may even be disappointed.” Bowerman said that “You can only understand that this product cannot represent the original recipe if you already know Italian cuisine.”

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