Spaghetti alla Puttanesca is an Italian pasta dish that is said to have been invented in Naples in the mid-20th century. The name literally means "spaghetti in the style of a prostitute" in Italian but don't get too carried away! While the etymology of the name once linked the dish to courtesans of old who were said to favour it as it was quick to make in between appointments, or because it smelled good enough to lure clients in from the street, neither of these two stories seem particularly convincing.
Food historian Jeremy Parzen, meanwhile, claims that the name has more to do with the practical use of puttanesca in Italian than its literal definition: Italians use “puttana” in a similar way to how English speakers use “shit”, as an all-purpose profanity. With this in mind, he theorises that the name refers to the ingredients and the fact that the dish is made almost of leftovers or, “shit” you happen to have lying around.
A 2005 article from the newspaper, Il Golfo, asserts that the dish was invented in the 1950s by Sandro Petti, co-owner of Rancio Fellone, a famous Ischian restaurant and nightspot, when, near closing one evening, a group of customers demanded a meal. As he was low on ingredients, he told them he didn't have enough to make a meal but they complained and insisted he "Make any kind of garbage." With the four tomatoes, two olives and some capers he had on hand, he made a meal for the group and, due to its success, later added it to the menu as spaghetti alla puttanesca. This story had not been verified but it does illuminate how such a dish might have come about and how it might have been named.
The ingredients of the dish today typically include tomatoes, olive oil, anchovies, olives, capers and garlic and, if you have found a vacation rental in Naples, you must make time to track this simple and fascinating pasta dish down. No doubt there will be many places serving it!
A 2005 article from the newspaper, Il Golfo, asserts that the dish was invented in the 1950s by Sandro Petti, co-owner of Rancio Fellone, a famous Ischian restaurant and nightspot, when, near closing one evening, a group of customers demanded a meal. As he was low on ingredients, he told them he didn't have enough to make a meal but they complained and insisted he "Make any kind of garbage." With the four tomatoes, two olives and some capers he had on hand, he made a meal for the group and, due to its success, later added it to the menu as spaghetti alla puttanesca. This story had not been verified but it does illuminate how such a dish might have come about and how it might have been named.
The ingredients of the dish today typically include tomatoes, olive oil, anchovies, olives, capers and garlic and, if you have found a vacation rental in Naples, you must make time to track this simple and fascinating pasta dish down. No doubt there will be many places serving it!
Photo credit: Popo le Chien / CC BY-SA 4.0