A US woman has sparked an online debate with a photo of her bizarre dinner creation, which is sure to cause some Italian readers intense pain.
Trina Ward, a Texan army veteran, uploaded a photo to Facebook of the big pot of spaghetti with tomato sauce she was cooking for her dinner. But in what many have dubbed a horror move, Ward then dumped what appeared to be a cup of sugar on top of the meal.
"Let's argue," she wrote. "Does sugar go in spaghetti?"
'Argue' turned out to be correct, with over 7000 commenters wading into the debate.
The home cook claimed the sugar offsets the acidity of the tomatoes.
But many people disagreed, with one person even describing it as "straight diabetes in the pot".
"As an Italian from Brooklyn this offends me and hurts my insides," wrote another.
Others compared Ward's dinner to the famous scene in Christmas movie Elf, where Buddy pours maple syrup on his dinner.
But others agreed with the use of sugar - although perhaps, not quite so much.
"My grandmother would always throw a little sugar in there, it was amazing!" one person wrote, although acknowledged that it "wasn't the whole bag".
"I guess it's a southern thing," wrote another.
The post was shared over 50,000 times, including into popular foodie Facebook groups, where it sparked a further furore.
So what's the definitive answer? As with most cooking its down to personal taste, but The Guardian food writer Rachel Roddy says the quality of tomatoes can have some impact.
"I've seen so many cooks add a pinch of sugar in much the same way as you'd adjust the taste with salt," she says, but adds "plenty of tomatoes are really quite acidic, so will only benefit from a bit of added sugar".
