Like any other pasta, Fettuccine Alfredo or popularly called ‘White Sauce Pasta’ is loved and admired in India for its delicious taste and creamy texture. So much so, that many Indian restaurants serve this pasta as a ‘bestseller’. Personally, Alfredo is one of my go-to pasta sauces. Be it a busy workday or a lazy weekend brunch, the smooth, creamy, and lip-smacking pasta can turn any day around. Although Alfredo is a fancy mainstream pasta dish today, it was originally made to treat an upset stomach. Did the fact shock you? Well, more is coming your way. Do you also know that this pasta is less popular in its origin country? Read on to know more such intriguing facts about Fettuccine Alfredo.
The dish gets its name from the creator- Alfredo di Lelio. He owned an Italian restaurant on the Via Della Scrofa in Rome. He made a classic pasta dish when his wife was pregnant. However, the heavily pregnant wife had an upset stomach and was in great turmoil as nothing pleased her palate. The chef then decided to make a plain pasta dish, pasta in Bianco or white pasta for his wife. To amp the dish up a little, he added butter and parmesan to it. Although the dish was added to Alfredo’s restaurant menu in 1914, the dish didn’t gain enough attention until 1920.
Two famous American actors- Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks visited Alfredo’s restaurant during their honey and ordered white pasta. They were completely gobsmacked for the good and asked Alfredo for the recipe. The couple went back to the US with the recipe and send a gold spoon and fork with ‘To Alfredo- The King Of The Noodles’ inscribed on it. The news spread quickly in the US and white pasta was known as the “rich stuff”. Although the Americans went “Ga Ga” over the dish, the Italians treated it as nothing more than pasta tossed in butter.
Did these facts shock you for the good? Now that you know the origin of the dish, you know whom to thank while relishing a bowl of Fettuccine Alfredo.