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FOOD AND DRINK

Did you know…? Italy’s pasta carbonara is partly American

Pasta carbonara is known all over the world as Rome's signature dish. But, ahead of World Carbonara Day on Saturday, April 6th, we look at why the origins of the recipe aren't an exclusively Roman affair.

Published: 5 April 2024 12:16 CEST
Carbonara
Chefs prepare 'spaghetti alla carbonara' during World Carbonara Day in April 2019. Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP

Pasta alla carbonara is one of the most well-known and loved Italian delicacies: the creaminess of the eggs and Pecorino cheese contrasting with the crispiness of the guanciale (pork cheek) and the sharpness of black pepper makes it an absolute pleasure for the palate.

But, while it is widely recognised as the signature dish of Rome’s traditional cuisine, the origins of pasta carbonara aren’t exclusively Roman.

There are multiple theories as to how the recipe came to be, but the most widely accepted explanation is that it is an American adaptation of pasta cacio e ova – a pasta dish typical of central Italy combining melted lard with a mixture of eggs and Cacio cheese.

According to this theory, US troops stationed in Rome towards the end of World War Two were particularly fond of pasta cacio e ova, but they asked for smoked bacon (a staple of American field rations) to be added to the recipe.

Roman cooks gradually adopted the new dish and added it to their repertoire, albeit with some key variations: they swapped the bacon for guanciale (cured meat prepared from pork jowl) and Cacio cheese with Pecorino.

READ ALSO: What are the unbreakable rules for making real pasta carbonara?

But the ties between carbonara and American history don’t end there, as the first official carbonara recipe is believed to have been published in the US, rather than Italy, in 1952. 

Author Patricia Bronté listed the Italian restaurant Armando’s, owned by Italian immigrants Pietro Lencioni e Armando Lorenzini, among her favourite local eateries, mentioning pasta carbonara as their signature dish.

It was only in August 1954 that carbonara first figured in Italian records, as magazine La Cucina Italiana provided cooking instructions for a very early version of the dish – one that still included bacon instead of guanciale and used Gruyère cheese as opposed to Pecorino.

READ ALSO: Why claims Italian cuisine is a ‘modern invention’ have angered Italy

The current, ‘classic’ version of the dish (including eggs, guanciale, black pepper and Pecorino) was first recorded in 1960 in Italian chef Luigi Carnacina’s La Grande Cucina cookbook.

Of course, the origin story of pasta carbonara is still debated by many – and modern adaptations of the 1960 recipe are often seen as highly controversial.

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CLIMATE CRISIS

‘Extreme’ climate blamed for world’s worst wine harvest in 62 years

World wine production dropped 10 percent last year, the biggest fall in more than six decades, because of "extreme" climate changes, the body that monitors the trade said on Thursday.

Published: 26 April 2024 08:48 CEST
'Extreme' climate blamed for world's worst wine harvest in 62 years

“Extreme environmental conditions” including droughts, fires and other problems with climate were mostly to blame for the drastic fall, said the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) that covers nearly 50 wine producing countries.

Australia and Italy suffered the worst, with 26 and 23 percent drops. Spain lost more than a fifth of its production. Harvests in Chile and South Africa were down by more than 10 percent.

The OIV said the global grape harvest was the worst since 1961, and worse even than its early estimates in November.

In further bad news for winemakers, customers drank three per cent less wine in 2023, the French-based intergovernmental body said.

Director John Barker highlighted “drought, extreme heat and fires, as well as heavy rain causing flooding and fungal diseases across major northern and southern hemisphere wine producing regions.”

Although he said climate problems were not solely to blame for the drastic fall, “the most important challenge that the sector faces is climate change.

“We know that the grapevine, as a long-lived plant cultivated in often vulnerable areas, is strongly affected by climate change,” he added.

France bucked the falling harvest trend, with a four percent rise, making it by far the world’s biggest wine producer.

Wine consumption last year was however at its lowest level since 1996, confirming a fall-off over the last five years, according to the figures.

The trend is partly due to price rises caused by inflation and a sharp fall in wine drinking in China – down a quarter – due to its economic slowdown.

The Portuguese, French and Italians remain the world’s biggest wine drinkers per capita.

Barker said the underlying decrease in consumption is being “driven by demographic and lifestyle changes. But given the very complicated influences on global demand at the moment,” it is difficult to know whether the fall will continue.

“What is clear is that inflation is the dominant factor affecting demand in 2023,” he said.

Land given over to growing grapes to eat or for wine fell for the third consecutive year to 7.2 million hectares (17.7 million acres).

But India became one of the global top 10 grape producers for the first time with a three percent rise in the size of its vineyards.

France, however, has been pruning its vineyards back slightly, with its government paying winemakers to pull up vines or to distil their grapes.

The collapse of the Italian harvest to its lowest level since 1950 does not necessarily mean there will be a similar contraction there, said Barker.

Between floods and hailstones, and damp weather causing mildew in the centre and south of the country, the fall was “clearly linked to meteorological conditions”, he said.

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