Before The Trattoria Revolution 

Before the trattoria revolution, we knew so little about foreign cooking that most of us believed the BBC’s 1957 Panorama April Fool story that spaghetti grew on trees.

The Spaghetti Tree is the colourful and untold story of Britain’s growing love affair with Italian food, originally sparked in 1959 by Mario and Franco at La Trattoria Terrazza in Soho. With its authentic dishes, informal style, and its cool, modern interior, La Terrazza became the most famous and influential restaurant in London, launching a revolution in our social culture.

Just as Britain’s post-war generation found their own new freedoms - in fashion, in music and the arts – so Mario and Franco and their successors gave us something else our parents had never enjoyed, our own new food and restaurants. The ‘Trat Scene’ became a part of Sixties folklore and throughout the decade, many of Mario and Franco’s employees left to open their own places – taking La Terrazza’s menu, recipes, style, staff, designer – and even its customers, with them.

Fifty years later, in the kitchens of Giorgio Locatelli’s Michelin-starred Locanda in London’s West End, Mario and Franco’s legacy lives on. Author Alasdair Scott Sutherland was there at the time, experienced it all, and knew the characters personally.

The Spaghetti Tree offers a fascinating and important new contribution to the social and food history of Britain in the Sixties.