Cacio e pepe, with parmesan? Roman ire at unforgivable formaggio blunder

One of the UK's most popular food websites has cooked up a storm in Italy over its recipe for the traditional Roman pasta dish cacio e pepe, drawing diplomatic representations from the main trade association for Italian restaurateurs.

- Angela Giuffrida

The recipe on Good Food, formerly owned by the BBC, which continues to licence the web address bbcgoodfood.com, described cacio e pepe, a culinary institution in the Italian capital, as a "store-cupboard favourite" that could easily be whipped up for "a speedy lunch" using "four simple ingredients - spaghetti, pepper, parmesan and butter".

The notion that making cacio e pepe is easy was bad enough, but the presence of parmesan cheese and butter has been deemed a cardinal sin. Traditional cacio e pepe contains three ingredients: pasta (usually tonnarelli, a type of spaghetti), pecorino romano cheese and black pepper.

Such is the fury, Fiepet Confesercenti, an association that represents restaurants in Italy, said it would demand a correction from the website to "safeguard this iconic dish".

Furthermore, it has taken the issue up with the British embassy in Rome.