Italians have slammed Americans on TV after their beloved dish carbonara was made with tomatoes.
The New York Times has been ridiculed after sharing a carbonara recipe on Sunday which tinkered with the traditional Italian meal.
Twitter was left outraged after carbonara, which is normally made with eggs, cured pork, parmesan and cracked black pepper, instead featured tomatoes.
The newspaper recommended readers to add tomatoes to the dish despite it not being a traditional ingredient.
The "Smoky Tomato Carbonara" recipe says: "Tomatoes are not traditional in carbonara, but they lend a bright tang to the dish."
In addition, they also recommended using back bacon instead of cured pork as “it’s widely available and lends a nice smoky note.”
The recipe, which was originally posted in 2021, was republished over the weekend and contains two deviations from the traditional dish.
It did not go down well with Italians who slammed the recipe as one person replied: "Reporting this for pasta misinformation. No tomatoes in Spaghetti Carbonara. Adding tomatoes makes it another dish."
Another said: “Tomatoes? In carbonara? This is misinformation. What is wrong with you, tomatoes belong in Bolognese NOT Spaghetti carbonara!”
One user said the dish could not be labelled carbonara as it does not feature tomatoes.
They wrote: “It needs to be given a new name. Carbonara does not have tomatoes.”
Users said the recommendation of tomatoes was almost as bad as pineapple on a pizza.
“Umm that’s not carbonara.. you are one step away from adding pineapple aren’t you?”, one person quipped.
While others joked America had "declared war on Italy" and the shocking deviation from the recipe led to one user believing "my grandma’s ghost is going to haunt me to complain about this."
The traditional Italian dish is rarely played with but chef Nigella Lawson once changed the recipe.
She recommended using double cream and white wine instead of eggs, which didn't go down well with Italy.
Foodies were livid after she attempted to tinker with the dish.
One user wrote: "Nigella you are a wonderful woman but your recipes are the DEATH of Italian recipes, literally! NO CREAM IN CARBONARA NEVER, only eggs."
Another added: "I really appreciate you, but...double cream, wine, nutmeg, bacon...it's another recipe, you can't call this carbonara, no way!"
