Is it Sauce or Gravy?
Pasta with marinara... or gravy?
If I had a dime every time someone asked me this, I could stop slingin’ sauce for a living. It’s that many!
This is a really hot topic for a lot of people, it seems (myself not included). Even Facebook has groups created around this heated debate (ex: It’s Gravy Not Sauce, In Eastie We Call It Gravy Not Sauce.
Here’s the gist: the two ways Italians say “sauce” in Italian are salsa and/or sugo. Both words translate as “sauce” but never as “gravy.”
Ragù doesn’t even translate as “gravy” but comes close enough since it involves meat which is what people really mean when they say “gravy” (my personal opinion). Also, the word “gravy” is really, really English!
I’m perplexed though as to how the word “gravy” overpowered the word “sauce” here in the USA. My guess is it’s mostly generational and assimilation plays a big part too, because Italian immigrants wanted to sound more American. From there, I think it just stuck and created the modern day gravy-sauce divide. But “what we eat is [also] shaped by different forces and contexts” according to gastronomic professore Simone Cinotto.
Look, whether you identify as “gravy” or “sauce”, that’s your personal experience and no one has the right to take that away from you.
The “gravy” in this 1950’s Chef Boyardee product is closer to a meatloaf gravy, not a tomato-based sauce. Founded by Italian immigrant Hector Boiardi, the company was sold to American Home Foods in 1946, which was purchased in 2000 by ConAgra Foods, which continues to produce Chef Boyardee canned pastas bearing Boiardi's likeness.
Franco-American Food Company was founded by Alphonse Biardot, who immigrated to the United States from France in 1880. In 1886, he and his two sons opened a commercial kitchen in Jersey City, New Jersey, featuring the foods of his native country. The company proved a success, particularly with its line of canned soup and pasta, and it was acquired by Campbell's in 1915. As of 2008, the Campbell Soup Company continues to sell gravy under the Franco-American name.
As a child of Italian immigrants myself, and a full-time saucier, I do sincerely mean this. You do you. BUT please don’t ever tell me I should call our food brand City “Gravery” instead of Saucery, because that would be dumb!
Check out some of our products: