‘Nonsense’: Carbonara recipe stirs viral debate, landing Italian historian in hot water

Key PointsA food historian from Bologna has divided Italians after he recreated the ‘first’ carbonara recipe.The recipe was printed in 1954 in the Cucina Italiana magazine.The decision to swap out key ingredients like pecorino cheese has angered locals.

Italians love their food, it is a source of pride and national identity, as well as heated debate.

Luca Cesari, food historian and author from Bologna, has faced backlash online after cooking what he says is the original version of carbonara pasta.

His instagram video, viewed more than 1.9 million times, has divided locals over the traditional way to make the beloved Italian dish.

“I dared to take a historical recipe for carbonara dating back to 1954, the first Italian recipe for carbonara, which was published in the ‘Cucina Italiana’ (magazine), and simply remade it,” he said.

The carbonara presented by Cesari was made with Swiss gruyere cheese, garlic, bacon and scrambled eggs.

It ditched the usual ingredients of Italian pecorino cheese and cured pork cheek, usually mixed with eggs to create a creamy sauce.

Rome residents echoed the anger online, with local Bruna Mari arguing that the traditional carbonara needed to be left alone.

“Where did he (referring to Cesari) come from? Nonsense… Everyone has their reasons but what reason does he have? You tell me,” she said.

Restaurant owner Roberto Martelli is among those who say the creamy sauce version is traditional.

“I think it represents the key to tradition in the same way that amatriciana or cacio e pepe represent who we are. Most Roman cuisine comes from the traders who came down from the Apennines, so it recalls tradition a 100 per cent,” he said.

Cesari said he was trying to show how the recipe has evolved over the decades.

“This has angered the carbonara purists who did not study history and think that our beautiful recipe has always remained identical to itself,” Cesari said.

“Unfortunately this is not the case and there have been hundreds of versions of carbonara.”

A professor of food history at the University of Parma, Alberto Grandi, has also come under fire for questioning established Italian culinary traditions.

He has denounced what he has called “a sort of ‘gastro-nationalism that prevents us from reasoning calmly about the themes of our cuisine’.”

Grandi has previously been criticised for saying the beloved carbonara dish is American.

Carbonara has long been a source of fierce debate, with versions that use cream to make the sauce often labelled as unconventional.

Whether it be pineapple on pizza, pairing pasta with tomato sauce or having a cappuccino with a meal, Italians often defend their traditions online.

And food historian Cesari is already prepared to stir up the next culinary controversy, with a video on a Neapolitan pizza from the 1800s, made with clams.

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