Where Did Pesto Originate?

The recipe for classic basil pesto can be traced to the Italian city of Genoa, the capital of Liguria which is famed for its world class basil production.

Genoa is where pesto originated

The recipe for Pesto Genovese was first documented in Giovanni Battista Ratto's 1863 book La Cuciniera Genovese. Since then, the Genovese have fought hard to cement their reputation as the city where the world's greatest sauce originated.

The Genovese's love of pesto borders on obsession

Speak to the locals, and you'll quickly realise how strongly they feel about their beloved sauce. They honour their ingredients and recipes with a passion that can sometimes border obsession. They insist that pesto is a living, breathing thing, an alchemy that can only exist in the temperate climate of its birthplace. They'll even tell you, without a hint of irony, that pesto is the second thing a Genovese baby will taste after its mother's milk.

The Genovese protect their beloved recipe with vigour

As if the locals' passion for pesto were ever in doubt, they scorned the disgraced Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, when he demanded that any pesto served at the 2001 G8 Summit reception dinner contain no "stinking garlic." As if that wasn't enough of an insult, he ordered it to be called "basil sauce" rather than "pesto." The Genovese made their thoughts known by pelting the creep with missiles of garlic cloves.

The Genovese would love to protect their sauce legally

There is a local saying, "If the basil is foreign, it certainly isn't pesto!" and ever since Genovese-grown basil achieved a protected designation of origin (PDO) status in 2005, there have been calls for pesto itself to be granted a PDO. That would not only stop producers outside of Liguria from producing it, but it could even protect the exact ingredients that the organisers of the World Pesto Championships regard as the "official pesto recipe."

Even if everyone agrees that pesto originated from Genoa and that their official recipe is the one and only one worth of the name, there are two robust counterarguments to the question of whether pesto itself deserves PDO status. The first relates to the definition of pesto. The word comes from the Italian verb pestare, meaning "to pound" (referring to the pestle and mortar with which it was traditionally made). On that basis, you can argue that the word simply relates to the process of producing the sauce, not that it must have a specific list of ingredients or a specific place where it can be made.

The second argument is that there is very little in the culinary world that is completely new or unique. In the case of pesto, it's hard to believe that it wasn't heavily influenced by moretum, a sauce containing herbs, cheese, garlic, salt, olive oil, and vinegar. That sauce was being eaten by the Romans almost 2000 years before the Ligurian version was first documented.

Is it so improbable that the Genovese adapted, honed, and perfected moretum using the incredible range of world-class ingredients that grew in the hills around them? After all, the Sicilians did precisely that with their Trapanese pesto, where they added tomatoes and switched the pine nuts for their preferred almonds. Even the French got in on the act with pistou, a virtually identical sauce to Genovese pesto, just without the nuts.

Nowadays, you only need to flick through cookbooks in the world cuisine section to find recipes for "Persian Pesto," "Thai Pesto," and a whole load of pesto-inspired sauces made with that cuisine's prominent ingredients.

Are these fusions really pestos? We think they are worthy of the name, but we have such respect for Genovese pesto that if we could lay some claim to it, we'd probably guard it with the same passion as the Ligurians.