As the company behind spaghetti hoops, Alphabetti and Minions pasta shapes, Heinz is not afraid to take liberties with Italian cuisine. But after it had the audacity to put carbonara in a can, some fear the US manufacturer has gone too far.
The seriousness of the situation became apparent on Thursday morning when the company’s first pasta launch in a decade was discussed on BBC Radio 4’s agenda-setting Today news programme. The presenter Jonny Dymond asked whether it amounted to the “end of culinary civilisation” or the kind of “leap forward that brought us the joy of Pot Noodles and microwave meals”.
Alessandro Pipero, whose Michelin-starred Pipero restaurant in the heart of Rome has earned him the billing “carbonara king”, was firmly in the first camp. The chef appeared to recoil at £2 supermarket carbonara with a lengthy shelf life, quizzically asking: “Do you mean in a tin, like cat food?”
He told the Times: “I don’t really know how to respond to this, shouldn’t we stick to putting things like Coca-Cola in a can?”
Although now considered a staple Italian dish, spaghetti carbonara is a relatively recent invention. Its origins are debated but food writers suggest that it may have come from US troops in Italy and their daily supplies, which included some sort of cheese, bacon and eggs.
The dish’s enduring popularity is partly the fact it is, in theory, quick and easy to prepare and has just four ingredients – pasta, egg, parmesan and pancetta. Some cooks add cream but may keep quiet about it after the chef Nigella Lawson was criticised for causing the “death of Italian food” by including 60ml of double cream in a 2017 recipe.
Those who get shirty about the addition of cream should skip the ingredients list on the back of the Heinz tin: it includes pancetta, cornflour, skimmed milk powder, cheese powder, sugar, garlic flavouring, onion extract and dried parsley.
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The divisive new product was manna from heaven for users of X, formerly Twitter. One wag suggested they might “try this on toast with some rocket and balsamic glaze” while another said that “as a Sicilian, I’m required to commit murder for this offence”.
The psychedelic branding – a marriage of Heinz’s traditional yellow and what looks like millennial pink – also raised eyebrows. One commenter said: “It’s making me taste Fruit Salads”.
But Heinz, which has already given spaghetti bolognese and beef ravioli the same treatment, is unrepentant. It said it is coming to the rescue of people who would rather open a tin than endure the drama of the sauce splitting.
Alessandra de Dreuille, meals director at Kraft Heinz, said people wanted “convenient meals that are effortless to prepare”. She added: “Whether enjoyed as a comforting meal after a long day or shared with friends whilst catching up on the latest TV series, Heinz spaghetti carbonara is the perfect fuss-free dinner solution.”
