Onion Pasta: Spilled Milk #291

I make this pasta all the time at home, and I know you will, too.

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I talk a lot about cucina povera because foods born of subsistence are where almost all food has started, other than the bullshit of putting gold leaf on sushi or a tomahawk bone. That’s the stuff of idiocy, not the stuff of culture.

A truly great cheese is $40 a pound in a fromagerie in NYC. It’s almost without a cost in the little French towns where it’s made. Giant bluefin tuna is the food of the super-rich who can afford the most exclusive Japanese omakase restaurants. In the 1960s in Long Island, my father would show me the same fish being loaded into open bed trucks to be driven to Islip to the cat food factories. Generational change (time), cultural change (tastes) and access all affect what we think of as precious. BUT almost all food has it’s roots in the natural world and, more importantly, in some place where it was the food of subsistence.

Look at the most popular foods of today wherever you live, and I bet it has its roots in subsistence cultures. And is there a luxury ingredient more symbolic of the moneyed class than lobster? Yes, there is: caviar. Both of them were the foods of the poorest of the poor just a few generations ago. In fact, 100 years ago, lobster was fed on the regular to inmates in New England prisons. It was the cheapest of foods.

Is there a hotter restaurant than Carbone? And their vodka pasta commands a hefty price tag. It’s insanely delicious, BTW, but to some it’s just pasta and sauce. Others love eating the same dish that Taylor Swift loves. In restaurants, we pay for the room, the staff, the vibe, and I am all for restaurants charging more and charging what they can so that they are viable businesses. But you get the idea about the food history here. Pasta and sauce is the food of subsistence dining.

Onion pasta has roots deeply intertwined with Italian-American culture and the economic hardships of the Great Depression. Italian immigrants began arriving in the United States in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, bringing their culinary traditions with them. These immigrants settled in urban areas where they adapted their recipes to incorporate local ingredients and to accommodate their economic realities. During the Depression, many families faced scarcity and financial struggles, leading to the creation of simple affordable meals. The Route 66 onion burger is one of them. Onions were cheaper than beef, so those burgers relied on mounds of onion on bread with a thin meat patty.

Onion pasta emerged as a practical dish that utilized inexpensive ingredients. Onions, a staple in many kitchens, were combined with pasta, often enhanced with garlic, olive oil and sometimes a sprinkle of cheese if it was available. This dish provided a comforting and hearty meal, especially here in the Midwest, while requiring minimal expense, fitting well into the frugal cooking practices of the time. As the years went by, onion pasta became a beloved comfort food reflecting the resilience of the immigrant families. It symbolizes the melding of Italian culinary traditions with American economic realities, illustrating how communities adapted to all their challenges with resiliency. Onion pasta remains a nostalgic dish for many Italian Americans, serving as a reminder of their ancestors’ struggles and triumphs during difficult times. I was served a dish just like this in a northern Minnesota farmhouse while shooting the last episode of Family Dinner. It was so delicious that I have made this dish on the regular ever since.

Recipe: Onion Pasta