Growing up in a small town in Mississippi without much food variety, except when we travelled to New Orleans, my parents always made an effort to cook a large variety of dishes outside of the usual Vietnamese cuisine they were used to, and I remember spaghetti and other Italian foods being a consistent staple in my diet as a kid. They went out of their way to try out new dishes despite their busy schedules and three kids, so I wanted to cook something I had never tried before, just as they would have. I chose spicy rigatoni specifically because of a video on TikTok I saw about the crowds of angry people lining up for their orders of spicy rigatoni from the restaurant Carbone in New York City. In the midst of quarantine, I wanted to give a copycat recipe of their infamous $32 spicy rigatoni a try as a nod to my parents’ joy in exploring new dishes when I was a child, and to understand just why this dish merits risking one’s health during a worldwide pandemic.

Spicy rigatoni is a carbohydrate heavy dish without meat or vegetables. Because it is a quick, easy, and inexpensive dish to make, it is perfect for a quick dinner anytime, especially during quarantine. For picky eaters that enjoy spicy food like I did as a child, this is a perfect choice for dinnertime. However, given its indulgent nature and lack of nutrition, it should not be eaten too often, or it should be paired with a nutritious salad or side dish. With the ongoing pandemic, subsequent quarantine, and uncertainty of many things in the future, a dish such as this one can be a great comfort to those who stress eat, and that might explain Carbone’s customers’ lacking regard for health when waiting for their spicy rigatoni, despite how easy it is to make at home.

The highlight of this dish is the type of pasta used. ‘Rigate’ is the Italian word for rigatoni, meaning ridged or grooved. These pasta ridges were a direct result of the machine industrialization of Italy in the eighteenth century, and the need to feed masses of people made cheap, dried pastas a staple in many Italian households. The grooves in this pasta, along with others such as penne, allow smooth sauces, such as the one in this recipe, or even hearty meat-filled sauces to adhere better than on smooth pasta. In fact, rigatoni is most popular in the Lazio and Sicilia regions of Italy for this reason.

When I first found out about this project, I was nervous. Although my family occasionally eats stir fried noodles and spaghetti, I realized just how little I connected with the food I was eating, so I began reflecting on childhood memories with my parents’ cooking. I contemplated which dish to share when I had the idea to make something completely unfamiliar to me. As a result of my family’s ongoing self-imposed quarantine and my addiction to TikTok, I came across videos of people talking about spicy rigatoni and the crowds of people at Carbone in New York. This inspired me to try out a copycat recipe. I first began by mincing the garlic and dicing the onion. Although these might seem like easy tasks, the onion made me shed embarrassingly large tears, and I had to take a small break after chopping to regain my composure. The biggest mistake I made as an amateur pasta chef was forgetting to reserve some of my pasta water. As a result, my sauce did not adhere to my pasta as well, and it was not as silky as it could have been. Besides these mishaps, the rest of the cooking was painless, and the final dish was fantastic, nonetheless. These mistakes gave me insight into what my parents may have experienced in their own cooking adventures, exploring different cultures and techniques, but they also solidify my belief that the people who crowded outside of Carbone could have just made their own versions of spicy rigatoni at home without the need to risk the health of both themselves and others.