Puttanesca: odd sauce history

Puttanesca sauce originated in Naples.  It is made from tomatoes, black olives, capers, anchovies, onions, garlic, and herbs, usually oregano and parsley but sometimes also basil.  It is an easy sauce, briefly cooked, and is very fragrant and spicy.  Puttanesca translates as “in the style of the whore.”  The name derives from the Italian word puttana which means whore.  Puttana in turn arises from the Latin word putida which means stinking.  

     Now I’ll bet your wondering how this tasty dish became associated with such sordid content.  As is often the case when sifting through culinary history, there are multiple explanations.  The first interpretation is that the intense aroma, (harking back to the “stinking” Latin definition), would lure men from the street into the local house of ill repute.  Thus, the Napolese harlots were characterized as the sirens of the culinary world. 

Three additional accounts all hinge on the fact that Puttanesca sauce is easy and quick to make.  The first is that the prostitutes made it for themselves to keep the interruption of their business to a minimum.  The second is that they made it for the men awaiting their turn at the brothel.  And the final version is that it was a favorite of married women who wished to limit their time in the kitchen so that they may visit their paramour.

     Whatever its origins, Puttanesca is a tasty and vibrant sauce.  

originally published: http://www.foodreference.com/html/a-ladies-puttanesca.html

Another story of origin:

Originally, it was called ‘alla marinara’; the claim is it was invented in the 1950s in a famous Ischia restaurant one late night when a group of hungry customers asked the owner, who didn’t have many ingredients left, to make “una puttanata qualsiasi,” that is, to throw together whatever ingredients he had, to make something simple. The owner only had some tomatoes, olives and capers, the base for the sauce, and that’s how he came up with the puttanesca sauce. Some indeed say the modern name of this preparation refers to pasta ‘prepared as it comes’, that is, easy to cook, without frills or complicated preparation.

Here at Farina we are thrilled to offer our interpretation of this sauce as a pizza. Be sure to check out this amazing fragrant variety.