By: Gowri Sunil

Local Editor

Famous for its culinary pride, Italy is home to many global favorites, including pizza, risotto, and, of course, the beloved pasta. From marinara to bolognese and penne to lasagne, pasta’s wide variety of shapes and sauces earns it the title of an Italian staple. Yet recently, a jar of pre-made carbonara sauce from the Dutch brand Delhaize has stirred up unprecedented controversy. As a result, national outrage erupted across Italy.

On the shelves of a UK Parliament Supermarket lies the flawed creamy pasta sauce. The controversy stems from the ingredients of Delhaize’s carbonara sauce. Traditionally, carbonara sauce is made with guanciale, a cut from a pig’s cheek known as pork jowl, in combination with egg yolks, Pecorino Romano cheese, and black pepper. These four ingredients are essential to an authentic Italian carbonara sauce. However, Delhaize’s version substitutes smoked pancetta (cured and smoked pork belly) for the guanciale. The change, an unacceptable one at that, is similar to Heinz’s unforgivable decision to make a canned carbonara sauce with the exact substitute. According to CNN, this earned Heinz reviews that included “comparisons to cat food and elicited a barrage of colorful comments.” 

As a result of the devastation, Italy’s agricultural minister, Francesco Lollobrigida, not only called Delhaize’s sauce unacceptable, but also called for an immediate investigation. For Lollobrigida and much of the Italian nation, the event stretched beyond merely a culinary issue; it is also an issue of heritage and pride. Currently, Italy seeks United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognition to preserve its cuisine as “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.”

Despite the outrage, Italy has noted that the Delhaize company did not label the sauce as made in Italy, yet they highlight the rising issue of Italian-made foods mimicking traditional dishes that are not authentically made. Coldiretti, the largest Italian agricultural lobby, estimates that “the scandal of fake Italian products costs our country 120 billion euros ($138 billion) a year, paradoxically resulting in the biggest counterfeiters of Italian excellence being industrialized countries.” The recent anger has sparked a debate in which some argue that recipes must naturally evolve, while others insist that culinary classics, such as pasta, must be preserved. 

With the Delhaize sauce now removed from supermarkets, the debate over culinary conservation continues. Discussions have stretched far and wide, with historian Albert Grandi bravely suggesting that carbonara and pizza were American inventions that Italian immigrants adapted, as CNN reports. Nevertheless, for many proud Italians, protecting their traditional dishes goes beyond simply the taste to a matter of cultural preservation.

(Sources: CNN)