“To the horror of many Italians,” says a broadcaster from the United Kingdom’s ITV News in a report from late last week, “Heinz has unveiled its latest culinary offering to us Brits: Spaghetti carbonara in a can.”
Aimed at young consumers and trying to tap into the ever-growing Italian food market, the US company KraftHeinz announced the new microwaveable product, which will debut this fall in the UK. The media reaction was swift, with the BBC, ITV, and many other British news outlets reporting not only on the product but on the probability of offending Italians—especially Italian chefs.
The Guardian reports that the chef from Rome’s Michelin-starred Pipero responded to a question about the new carbonara in a can by asking, “Do you mean in a tin, like cat food?”
The canned carbonara, priced at £1.75 on the UK Heinz site, promises “Spaghetti pasta and pancetta in a cheese sauce for a rich & creamy flavor.” Advising consumers to “enjoy the great taste of our pasta on its own or on toast,” it suggests that this version of the classic Roman dish is “the perfect meal for kids and grown-ups alike!”
Many of the media reports lean into the ridiculousness of replicating a beloved dish that Italian chefs make fresh with a few ingredients: spaghetti, eggs, guanciale, pecorino, and pepper. Though some point out that Heinz is simply adding to its offerings of canned pasta dishes, which include ravioli, spaghetti Bolognese, and “Spaghetti Hoops”—the company’s answer to America’s famed SpaghettiOs. It’s worth noting that SpaghettiOs were invented by an American working for the Campbell Soup Company; Donald Goerke created the canned pasta to compete with Chef Boyardee’s popular canned pastas, which were invented by an Italian immigrant to the U.S., Ettore Boiardi.
So Carbonara in a Can, in a way, does have some Italian roots, though Italians are understandably upset about the latest offering from Heinz. Italian chefs and even government officials have taken to social media to call the new product a “disgrace,” with one chef adding “Carbonara must be prepared and served immediately.”
