italians

Many food publications have come under fire recently for either completely bastardizing a culture's cuisine, or neglecting to correctly credit a dish's influence. While we've enjoyed all the drama surrounding Bon Appetit's various failings, the latest culprit of food crimes is none other than The New York Times. 

The publication stoked the ire of readers back in 2018 when they referred to Yorkshire Pudding, an English supper special, as a dessert. Their latest misstep? Publishing a recipe for a dish called "Smoky Tomato Carbonara."

For those of you who may not be versed in Italian cuisine, they take their recipes - and methodologies - very, very seriously. Carbonara is a pasta dish (usually using Spaghetti) that combines guanciale (pork jowl), black pepper, pecorino cheese and egg to create a wonderfully rich and savory treat. Unfortunately, especially stateside, many home and professional chefs bastardize this preparation either by using substitutions such as bacon for guanciale, or, even worse, adding cream to the sauce. While the dish does have a creaminess to it, the decadence comes from the last step of the cooking process, when a mixture of raw egg is added to the cooked pasta while off the heat. It cooks into a creamy coating when done correctly. Adding cream or milk isn't just a cop out, to many Italians it's a sin. 

If the addition of dairy or use of bacon is so offensive, it's no wonder this "smoky tomato" recipe has inspired such animosity. And Italians are not ones to mince words. One chef from Rome, the 'Carbonara King' Alessandro Pipero, told Corriere della Sera "It would be like putting salami in a cappuccino or mortadella in sushi. OK, fine, but then let's not call it sushi, similarly with this one – carbonara with tomato is not carbonara. It's something else." Other opponents chose to voice their disgust on Twitter - mostly in response to the tweet that was supposed to promote the controversial recipe. But the condemnation of bastardized Italian dishes on social media is nothing new. In fact, one of our favorite Twitter accounts is an impressive archive of heated, angry comments in response to images of ketchup-soiled pasta, or pizzas with pineapple on them. The account, Italians Mad At Food, has been pumping out the entertainment since 2015, and has amassed a pretty impressive following of 100k fans. If you're entertained by this kind of food criticism, you'll definitely enjoy the screenshots they so diligently upload. We've put together our favorites from the last month or so for your convenient enjoyment, but you can see more on Twitter as well as on their newer Instagram. The anger and scathing remarks really never get old.  

Italians being obsessed with food may seem like a stereotype. Mothers and 'Nonnas' shoveling pasta and cured meat down your throat at Sunday dinner. Gabbagool. People screaming 'mangia'. It all seems a bit like a trope. While we can't speak to Italians being preoccupied by the art of eating, we are sure of one thing: Italians get extremely angry when they feel you've bastardized their cuisine. The now-defunct Twitter account 'Italians Mad At Food' (@ItalianComments) is proof of that. Even though there hasn't been a fresh tweet since about a year ago, it's an incredible archive of scathing and dramatic commentary geared at stuff like pineapple pizza and creamy Alfredo sauces. The comments don't come with much context. But their furious flourish makes them entertaining all on their own. 

The U.S. is pretty well known for its bastardization of other cuisines. We gobble down crab rangoon, California rolls and rainbow bagels with sheer delight. The debate over whether or not pineapples belong on pizza exists solely because some demented genius decided to place the fruit on a classic Italian dish. We see the backlash all over social media. so it should come as no surprise that there's an entire Twitter account dedicated to the infuriated Italians eager to reject these crimes against their cuisine. 

Italians Mad At Food is basically an aggregator of enraged Italian commenters bemoaning the culinary abilities of anyone who, well, isn't Italian. The comments are hilarious, lofty, and oftentimes hard to decipher - which arguably makes them even funnier. While we do believe an apology is in order for Olive Garden and Chef Boyardee, the existence of this Twitter account and its heated comments has left us grateful for our criminal takes on Italian cuisine.

Hang in there. 

Just hold on for a few more hours.