Maarten van Erd
Last Christmas there was another one in Italy, a recipe riot. The recipe riot is, to my knowledge, a unique Italian phenomenon. Of course we all know that food is a more than serious matter for Italians. Only here you hear unexpected discussions erupting everywhere about: the right oil for this or another dish, which tomatoes you absolutely need for the perfect passata or about when you can or should not use green olives.
It will therefore not surprise anyone that Italy has the most protected traditional foods: the DOCs (Denominazione di origine controllata), DOPs (Denominazione di origine protetta) and IGPs (Indicazione geografica protetta).
Italy also has the 'Accademia Italiana della Cucina'. This institute, recognized by the Ministry of Culture, protects the traditions of Italian cuisine everywhere in the world, but certainly also in Italy. The recipes and ingredients they record are considered the golden standard of Italian cuisine. Eating and cooking are serious matters in this country.
Back to the recipe riot, this is of course not the outrage about the existence of a Hawaiian pizza, or about the non-existent spaghetti alla Bolognese. These are foregone conclusions here for which no apology or curtsy is big enough.
The same applies to all products that are sold anywhere in the world under the name or at least with reference to an Italian origin. It is a shame!
A recipe riot is a 'deviation' from a fixed regional recipe, preferably from a renowned (television) chef.
Carlo Cracco
In 2015 it was Carlo Cracco, star chef from Milan but best known for being a jury member of the MasterChef Italia program. He revealed that: for the 'perfect spaghetti all'amatriciana', he added a clove of unpeeled garlic to the guanciale.
This displeased the Amatrice municipal council, which stated in no uncertain terms: 'It is something completely different with garlic! Real amatriciana contains only guanciale (cheek bacon), pecorino (goat cheese), vino bianco (white wine), pomodoro (tomatoes), San Marzano, pepe (pepper) and pepperoncino (chili)!'
The purists all agreed. The story does not tell whether Chef Cracco adjusted his recipe afterwards.
Nigella lawson
In 2017 it was Nigella Lawson's turn. She published her recipe for it spaghetti carbonara, with panna (cream), nutmeg and wine (vermouth). 'Like Meryl Streep cooked for Jack Nicholson in the movie Heartburn.' The world was too small. 'Your recipe is the death of the carbonara!' and 'Italian cuisine is an art form, not an art form, so to speak!' The commotion and intense reactions even made it to the English newspapers and the news.
Bruno Barbieri
Now it was chef Bruno Barbieri's turn. This chef, who has collected a total of 5 Michelin stars, not to mention many other awards and recommendations, is a well-known face in Italy through his television appearances.
He has been a judge on several versions of MasterChef and for the past two years of Cuochi d'Italia, il campionato del mondo, the Italian Cooking World Championship, so to speak.
However, at the beginning of December, this culture bearer and protector of the culinary heritage committed an unforgivable capital crime. He added a little Parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs and a small knob of butter to his spaghetti con le vongole.
Perhaps even worse is that he added: 'I know the purists will say “no, but”, but I really don't care.'
Now spaghetti con le vongole is one of the traditional recipes that are served on the evening of December 24 and that is probably why the video attracted so much attention. 'You put butter on your tortellini', 'free cholesterol' and 'I will send you the real recipe, you apparently forgot that' were the least hateful responses.
In any case, Barbieri has made extensive appearances in all the newspapers and news and is of course not going to take anything back. After all, he is, as many purists and critics accuse him of, an 'arrogant cogno'.
He also knows that it will blow over and that his popularity will not suffer in the end. All previous recipe riots have made that clear.
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