Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce is a quintessential Italian dish known around the world, despite taking many twists and turns on its voyage. Last month I had the unique opportunity to be an observer at a cooking demonstration conducted by Maestro Ivan Bombieri, Chef at Risotrante La Taverna, just outside of Udine, in Friuli Venezia Giulia region. Mr. Bombieri is a soft-spoken, charismatic man of no pretension who like his cooking to speak for itself.

Like many North Americans I grew-up eating lasagna. I recalled how my grandmother, who hailed from Genoa, would explain that lasagna was the name of a pasta, not a dish. Her style of preparing lasagna was to boil the pasta, then layer it with a Tucco sauce (dialect) and Parmigiano–Reggiano cheese, with no baking in the oven.

My dreams had been colored by my upcoming trip to Bologna. Nestled in north central Italy in the region of Emilia-Romagna, Bologna has long been considered the gastronomic capital of Italy. With the moniker of ‘La Grassa’ (the fat one), it is the birthplace of Mortadella di Bologna, Tagliatelle al ragù, Tortellini en brodo, Lasagne alla Bolognese and so much more. Nearby …