Italians are incredibly particular about their food. Even though much of what we consider to be “Italian” food is a relatively recent invention (for example, carbonara was basically unheard of in most of Italy until the 1950s), the people of Italy have decided that there is only one way to make their special dishes — even if that “one way” ends up changing every generation or so.

Recently, popular British cooking website Good Food published a recipe for cacio e pepe. Their recipe called for the cook to use spaghetti, black pepper, parmesan and butter, even daring to suggest using double cream if desired.

However, according to Italians, the only “true” way to make cacio e pepe is by solely using spaghetti, black pepper and pecorino cheese. This was apparently such a big deal in the country that a popular association representing restaurants there filed a complaint with the British Embassy, and numerous publications have spent days rallying against the site.

“Such a grave mistake. The suggestion of adding some cream gave me goosebumps,” said a broadcaster for RAI.

“You can do all the variations in the world — but you cannot use the original Italian name for them. You cannot say it is cacio e pepe if you put butter, oil and cream in it. Then it becomes something else,” added a local hotel owner.

Fine, if it’ll make you happy, I’ll only use spaghetti, black pepper and pecorino cheese. But I *am* a little hungrier than that, so I’m just going to go ahead and add meatballs and eat the whole thing atop some garlic bread.

That shouldn’t be a problem, right?