Fettuccine Alfredo is a delicious pasta dish that’s made with fettuccine noodles that have been tossed with butter and Parmesan cheese. As the hot pasta melts the cheese, it emulsifies the butter to form a tasty sauce that gives it a distinct taste over any other pasta dish. This dish has been served for over 107 years and has been enjoyed by millions of people all over the world. It’s also a dish that has earned its own holiday—a holiday that falls on February 7th and is known as National Fettuccine Alfredo Day.

The History of Fettuccine Alfredo

Even though serving noodles with butter and cheese can be traced all the way back to the 15th century in a dish known as macaroni romaneschi, true Fettuccine Alfredo as we know it today only goes back to about 1914. This is when restaurateur Alfredo Di Lelio created the dish to entice his pregnant wife to eat while she was suffering from nausea. He whipped up a plain pasta dish that was made with butter and Parmesan. Eventually, he added it to the menu of his restaurant, Via Della Scrofa, in Rome.

In the 1920s, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, two famous silent movie actors, tasted the simple recipe. They were extremely impressed by it and asked if they could take the recipe home to the United States. They were granted permission and they happily returned to the states with the recipe in hand.

Pickford and Fairbanks wanted to thank the restaurateur for not only serving them the dish but also for allowing them to take home the recipe, so they gifted the restaurant with a gold spoon and fork in 1927. They also included a picture of them enjoying the dish at the restaurant along with the silverware. The silverware was engraved with the words “To Alfredo the king of the noodles” and each one had the signature of either Mary Pickford or Douglas Fairbanks.

Reporters caught wind of the gift and soon all of Hollywood knew about the restaurant. Evidently, word got out among the general population as well, as Alfredo’s restaurant soon became a major tourist destination.

During the 1940s, Di Lelio sold the restaurant to a new owner. This new owner kept all of the pictures on the wall and also kept the name of the restaurant, Alfredo alla Scrofa, as well as the original menu. In 1950, Di Lelio opened another restaurant with his son, Il Vero Alfredo. Now both restaurants claim to be the originator of Fettuccine Alfredo.

The History of National Fettuccine Alfredo Day

This holiday was founded by Ines Di Lelio, the grandson of Alfredo, in 2005. It celebrates his grandfather’s creation of the dish and encourages everyone to give it a try.

Observing National Fettuccine Alfredo Day

If you want to enjoy this holiday, then all you have to do is enjoy Fettuccine Alfredo. You can do this by having it at your favorite restaurant or by making it yourself. And don’t forget to use the hashtag #NationalFettuccineAlfredoDay as you do.