On TikTok, Pasta Can 100% Be Considered A Dessert
Breakfast for dinner? Cold pizza in the morning? If you think about it, eating foods outside the bounds of their traditional times isn't terribly uncommon. It's important to point out, however, that creative TikTok influencers have begun food trends that push the envelope of what you consider "normal."
Dessert pasta is one of the many food trends that TikTok has been responsible for promoting. In July 2022, @Italpasta shared a s'mores pasta creation using fettuccine noodles. The noodles, which were covered with melted heavy cream and dark chocolate chips, were topped with graham crackers and mini marshmallows to make the recipe complete. TikTok commenters weren't sure what to think of the unique creation. "My good sir, I don't think pasta and chocolate is holy," wrote one TikTok user. Another said while they were unsure of how they felt, they would still be down for trying it.
Another video posted by @getcookingitalia showcased a Nutella-themed pasta. While filming his process, he anticipated the backlash he'd get from pasta lovers. "Rules are meant to be broken," he said. Though he didn't exactly explain the steps, the pasta was seemingly drenched in melted Nutella and topped with nuts of some sort. In some ways, though, dessert pasta isn't a new phenomenon.
Dessert pasta is quite common in Italy
Pasta is easily one of the dishes most associated with Italy, and for good reason. Italy's pasta market is worth billions of dollars, per Statista. So, it might not come as a surprise that dessert or sweetened pasta isn't just a TikTok trend in the European country. As early as the Renaissance, pasta was served with expensive ingredients like sugar and cinnamon. Drawing on that tradition, Luca de Luca of Naples-based Garofalo Pasta Company introduced sweet-stuffed pasta shells, per Italy Magazine. "Pasta shells can be filled with almost anything: vanilla custard, chocolate pudding, panna cotta, semifreddo, sorbet, granita, whipped cream and fresh berries, yogurt, and honey ... there are endless possibilities," Luca said of dessert pasta.
@the_pastaqueen For Nonna’s sake don’t do this at home, or anywhere else for that matter!!
Not every Italian feels the same way about the dessert pasta trend. When one Italian Chef, "Pasta Queen" Nadia Caterina Munno, came across such a video, she left the country over TikTok's ice cream pasta. The offending video showed a plate full of pasta topped with a large slab of ice cream, melted chocolate, and various candies. The Pasta Queen stitched the video to show herself "crying in Italian" and going back to Italy.