Carbonara Day, who knows how many Italians have cooked during this year in which they have often been forced to shut themselves up within the home, finding consolation only in the pleasures of the table. What is certain is that purchases of pasta in the last year have jumped by 10%. This is what emerges from an analysis by Coldiretti on Ismea data disclosed on the occasion of the International Carbonara Day which is celebrated today all over the world.
A dish that has driven the success of Italian pasta in line with the return to home cooking with the rediscovery of traditional recipes, starting right from pasta alla carbonara. A success that has not only concerned Italy but has crossed our borders with pasta which has set the historic export record for a value exceeding 3,1 billion in 2020 thanks to a leap of 16% according to Coldiretti.
A growth that has unfortunately also favored the multiplication of disturbing tarot cards of the prestigious dish of the Italian popular tradition as occurs with the habit of modifying it in many continents with the use of cream, with the frequent use of adding onion, up to “Smoky Tomato Carbonara”, or the smoked tomato carbonara recently published by the prestigious New York Times.
In addition to the tomato, the version invented by the US newspaper uses bacon instead of bacon while Pecorino Romano is replaced by Parmesan, a bad copy Made in the USA of Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano. Outside of Italy, especially in France and Germany, there are freeze-dried preparations with the aroma of carbonara. But we can continue in this gallery of horrors with the United Kingdom where the egg is sometimes replaced by béchamel, with Japan, where cream is usually added and there is no pecorino cheese, with Spain where it is customary to use, in addition with cream and Parmesan substitutes, onion and mushrooms and replace the bacon with bacon.
The lack of clarity on Made in Italy recipes - Coldiretti complains - offers fertile ground for the proliferation of counterfeit food products abroad where exports of Italian agri-food products could triple if there were a stop to international food counterfeiting which causes economic damage. but also image.
According to a report by the Italian Academy of Cuisine, the original recipe for carbonara pasta is therefore the most "falsified" of all Italian recipes abroad.
But it must also be said that in its recent history, it is a dish that causes discussion.
Rome grabbed it as an iconic dish, creating it from the combination of the US Army's "K Rations" (powdered eggs and bacon) and extemporaneously cooked spaghetti. But carbonara was born in the north thanks to a young chef Renato Gualandi who worked in Emilia for the fifth army and who moved to the capital with the army and perfected the delicious recipe that we still know today. Abruzzo claims its origins from an ancient dish of charcoal burners, and Naples also refers to the traditions of its poor cuisine.
A short film made for this year's Carbonara Day by Barilla sees an American soldier, played by Yonv Joseph, ask for the help of a young cook, played by Claudio Santamaria, to make a dish that consoles the American soldiers stationed in Rome, away from their loved ones. And they succeed very well with a steaming plate of Carbonara which seals the friendship between the two peoples.
Even if there is no shortage of real blasphemies made in the USA, such as when about fifteen years ago Tom Cruise boasted of a textbook carbonara starting with sautéed onion and garlic during a popular broadcast on Oprah Winfrey's US TV. Which almost caused chef Gualandi to have a heart attack, who in the meantime became Grand Chancellor of the Commanderie des Cordons for having cooked for queens, presidents and ministers.
But it's not just the Americans who slapped Gualandi's great invention, even the French got involved when they invented on the Demotivateur website to cook bacon, butterfly-shaped pasta, water and sliced onion in a pot of water then stir all with cream and garnish with raw yolk and parsley.
The great Gordon Ramsay, the British chef-entrepreneur-writer-actor who chose Twitter to publish a video with his version of Carbonara, also got involved. The title of the video is “The most amazing carbonara…” in which the chef sautéed a generous forkful of spaghetti, wrapped in a thick, undefined colored sauce that horrified even his fans.
