Spaghetti alla puttanesca - a showcase of the public houses?

 

Hi everyone!

Today, I’m coming to you with a dish that has an extremely interesting origin story and which is still a source of contention for many historians. If you are curious to know more about it, I invite you to read on J

 

Spaghetti alla puttanesca – it is an Italian dish based on spaghetti with parsley, tomatoes, black olives, capers and chilli peppers. It’s very popular and appreciated food by tourists, not only for its delicious taste, but also for its catchy name :P. There are a few theories which attribute the origin of this dish. According to the tradition that says that pasta alla puttanesca is typical of Rome, at the beginning of the 1900s, an innkeeper created this dish especially for visitors to a dating house on the outskirts of Rome. A very similar version is told by the well-known gastronomy expert Arthur Schwartz, who in his book Naples at table suggests that pasta alla puttanesca originated in Naples, more precisely in the Quartieri Spagnoli: at the beginning of the 20th century, the famous Neapolitan neighbourhood was home to all kinds of activities, including several pleasure houses. One day, the owner of one of these “cheerful dwellings” decided to amaze his guests by inventing a quick and easy dish, and so he came up with this colourful pasta. Others refer to the undergarments of the girls of the house who, in order to attract and entice the eye of the customer, probably wore all kinds of underwear, brightly coloured and full of promising transparencies. The many colours of this clothing would be found in the sauce of the same name: the green of the parsley, the red of the tomatoes, the dark purple of the olives, the grey-green of the capers, the garnet hue of the chillies.

That is the end for today. Be sure to try the spaghetti alla puttanesca during your next stay in Italy. Let’s hope it’s soon… J

Bye!