📜 History · 1982 / 2023
The 'official' ragù alla bolognese
Why Bologna keeps its ragù recipe in a notary's deed at the Chamber of Commerce.
On 17 October 1982 the Bologna delegation of the Accademia Italiana della Cucina, a cultural institution founded in 1953 to protect Italian food traditions, deposited 'the true ragù alla bolognese' with a notary at the Bologna Chamber of Commerce. It was a way to defend the city's best-known sauce against the many 'spaghetti bolognese' variations sold around the world.
On 20 April 2023 the Accademia deposited an updated version. The beef cut changed from 'cartella' (diaphragm) to ordinary minced beef pulp, the share of pancetta went down, and olive oil and even a stock cube were allowed. The Accademia explained that the recipe should reflect how Bolognese families really cook today.
The recipe is now one of more than thirty Bolognese dishes deposited at the Chamber of Commerce, alongside the official width of a tagliatella (deposited in 1972) and the spuma di mortadella (2004). In Bologna, ragù goes with fresh tagliatelle or lasagne. Never spaghetti.
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