I have never eaten pasta from a tin. I think I'd probably have to me starving and it would have to be a matter of life and death, before I'd do it. When it comes to the original recipe, I am all in for the garlic, I put a whole, peeled clove/or two to fry with the pancetta (I mostly live(d) in places where guanciale was not easily available). I am very firmly in the no cream camp, actually I am militant about not putting cream in carbonara. When it comes to cheese, I can be okay with pecorino, parmesan or even grana padano.
You are right! But I grew up on things that Heinz put into a tin. I would have literally starved without it! Recipe was intended as a particularly quick version, rather than the absolute best one!
I think we probably have some form of instant food in every country that we definitely had when growing up. For me it was instant soup with semolina dumplings, it was called The Wedding Soup. Probably full of bad ingredients, but I actually loved it as a child.
It would! I expect with all that chemical wizardry, it probably tastes quite good – they will certainly have spent a lot of money on every aspect of how much pleasure it gives!
That is so depressing Lizzie. I had read about it in the news but hadn't looked any further, though I think that I read that its launch had been designed to coincide with students going back to Uni - something I find particularly cynical and very sad indeed. I particularly love that the 1% pancetta is only 95% pork. I wonder what the other 5% is - presumably it must be more salt/nitrites. I can't see how any of this is going to end well. Yesterday, in the Guardian, I agreed with a comment where someone had suggested that the increasing availability and consumption of US-style fast food in this country isn't helping our obesity crisis. I was told in no uncertain terms (by which, I mean: rudely) by two other Guardian readers that by agreeing with that statement I was being 'fat phobic'. I think this is where we are going wrong and it's easy to see why medics find this such a difficult subject. My mother was extremely overweight for decades (by which I mean she struggled to walk more than a few paces and almost reached a point where she could barely lever herself up from a chair) yet her GP apparently didn't feel he could have a conversation with her about it until she was finally diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Then he felt able to discuss with her that she needed to lose weight and take exercise. If he had had that conversation at any point over the preceding 20 years he might have saved her from some of the damage the disease has done to her over the years (she was a patient where the usual glucose 'dip' test was giving a false negative, and she needed a glucose tolerance test for the diagnosis to be made - I understand there are a lot of false negatives with the more simple test). She was only diagnosed in the end because two different opticians wrote to her GP saying that, in their opinion, the diabetes was at an advanced level and it had already permanently damaged her vision, and her GP had no choice but to refer her for further investigation. Apparently the results of the glucose tolerance tests were pretty much the worst that can be achieved (if that is the right word). She also has terrible foot and leg ulcers, and any bruise or the smallest cut take months to heal - if they ever do - all of which could have been prevented if her GP had intervened earlier. She also has terrible problems with her knees, which no longer work in the way that they should, because of their decades of carrying excess weight. We all tried to talk to her about it, but her answer was 'well, the GP says I am fine and he is fat himself anyway, so how can he criticise me?' We really have to get over this inability to discuss the problem. Doctors don't seem to have a problem telling patients they shouldn't smoke or that they drink too much, but it seems that obesity is to remain a taboo subject, yet surely the GPs are the ones seeing the damage wrought by diabetes and all of the other miserable things that can accompany being very overweight.
Calling tackling obesity fat-phobic is absurd: obesity kills millions of people every year and ruins the health and health-span of many more millions; tackling that makes no aesthetic judgement!
The story about your mother is heartbreaking and outraging in equal measure. I am so sorry, and can only imagine wha it must feel like to witness. And it graphically illustrates, as you say, how the country got into such a mess.
Thank you for taking the time to share so fully such an important story. I would like to restack it, but didn’t want to do it without your permission.
I have never eaten pasta from a tin. I think I'd probably have to me starving and it would have to be a matter of life and death, before I'd do it. When it comes to the original recipe, I am all in for the garlic, I put a whole, peeled clove/or two to fry with the pancetta (I mostly live(d) in places where guanciale was not easily available). I am very firmly in the no cream camp, actually I am militant about not putting cream in carbonara. When it comes to cheese, I can be okay with pecorino, parmesan or even grana padano.
You are right! But I grew up on things that Heinz put into a tin. I would have literally starved without it! Recipe was intended as a particularly quick version, rather than the absolute best one!
I think we probably have some form of instant food in every country that we definitely had when growing up. For me it was instant soup with semolina dumplings, it was called The Wedding Soup. Probably full of bad ingredients, but I actually loved it as a child.
All I can say is YIKES!!!
What an alarming list of *ingredients* - no thanks, hard pass!!
The trouble is, so many things are just as bad!!
It would be interesting to see sales numbers - the stuff does indeed sound revolting, but also got appalling reviews when it was launched.
Keep up the fight Lizzie, more and more people will (finally!) agree with you !
It would! I expect with all that chemical wizardry, it probably tastes quite good – they will certainly have spent a lot of money on every aspect of how much pleasure it gives!
That is so depressing Lizzie. I had read about it in the news but hadn't looked any further, though I think that I read that its launch had been designed to coincide with students going back to Uni - something I find particularly cynical and very sad indeed. I particularly love that the 1% pancetta is only 95% pork. I wonder what the other 5% is - presumably it must be more salt/nitrites. I can't see how any of this is going to end well. Yesterday, in the Guardian, I agreed with a comment where someone had suggested that the increasing availability and consumption of US-style fast food in this country isn't helping our obesity crisis. I was told in no uncertain terms (by which, I mean: rudely) by two other Guardian readers that by agreeing with that statement I was being 'fat phobic'. I think this is where we are going wrong and it's easy to see why medics find this such a difficult subject. My mother was extremely overweight for decades (by which I mean she struggled to walk more than a few paces and almost reached a point where she could barely lever herself up from a chair) yet her GP apparently didn't feel he could have a conversation with her about it until she was finally diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Then he felt able to discuss with her that she needed to lose weight and take exercise. If he had had that conversation at any point over the preceding 20 years he might have saved her from some of the damage the disease has done to her over the years (she was a patient where the usual glucose 'dip' test was giving a false negative, and she needed a glucose tolerance test for the diagnosis to be made - I understand there are a lot of false negatives with the more simple test). She was only diagnosed in the end because two different opticians wrote to her GP saying that, in their opinion, the diabetes was at an advanced level and it had already permanently damaged her vision, and her GP had no choice but to refer her for further investigation. Apparently the results of the glucose tolerance tests were pretty much the worst that can be achieved (if that is the right word). She also has terrible foot and leg ulcers, and any bruise or the smallest cut take months to heal - if they ever do - all of which could have been prevented if her GP had intervened earlier. She also has terrible problems with her knees, which no longer work in the way that they should, because of their decades of carrying excess weight. We all tried to talk to her about it, but her answer was 'well, the GP says I am fine and he is fat himself anyway, so how can he criticise me?' We really have to get over this inability to discuss the problem. Doctors don't seem to have a problem telling patients they shouldn't smoke or that they drink too much, but it seems that obesity is to remain a taboo subject, yet surely the GPs are the ones seeing the damage wrought by diabetes and all of the other miserable things that can accompany being very overweight.
So cynical and so depressing!
Calling tackling obesity fat-phobic is absurd: obesity kills millions of people every year and ruins the health and health-span of many more millions; tackling that makes no aesthetic judgement!
The story about your mother is heartbreaking and outraging in equal measure. I am so sorry, and can only imagine wha it must feel like to witness. And it graphically illustrates, as you say, how the country got into such a mess.
Thank you for taking the time to share so fully such an important story. I would like to restack it, but didn’t want to do it without your permission.
Heinz's Carbonara is an abomination. Luckily, your recipe and your tips are great, Lizzie, you restored some sense in the Universe.
Thank you!It is a real shocker!