Overview
- Good Food’s cacio e pepe recipe lists four ingredients—spaghetti, pepper, parmesan and butter—departing from the traditional three-ingredient version made with pasta, pecorino Romano and black pepper.
- Claudio Pica, president of Fiepet Confesercenti’s Rome unit, led the complaint and formally asked the British embassy in Rome to intervene.
- Italian media outlets have lampooned the recipe, with Il Messaggero quipping “God save the cacio e pepe,” underscoring national pride in culinary authenticity.
- The recipe has been on Good Food’s site for about three months but only drew a formal objection this week from Italy’s main restaurant association.
- The dispute highlights broader tensions over preserving culinary tradition, national identity and the accountability of global recipe platforms.