{"id":702230,"date":"2026-05-29T13:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T13:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/702230\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T13:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T13:21:11","slug":"when-i-publicly-broke-up-with-mutti-tinned-tomatoes-it-was-like-id-entered-a-church-and-said-god-isnt-real-australian-food-and-drink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/702230\/","title":{"rendered":"When I publicly broke up with Mutti tinned tomatoes, it was like I\u2019d entered a church and said God isn\u2019t real | Australian food and drink"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my taste test of Australian tinned tomatoes<\/a> this week, I claimed it doesn\u2019t matter what brand you buy \u2013 almost all of them can make a good sauce. The article led with a picture of me chugging pulped tomato from a tin (this isn\u2019t how I ran the actual taste test) and a headline that said \u201cThe results \u2018end my long-term relationship with Mutti.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Within 24 hours, hundreds of people who read the article \u2013 or saw a social media post about it<\/a> \u2013 let me know what they thought. It was like I\u2019d entered a church and told the members God isn\u2019t real. Only this congregation worships a different deity \u2013 Mutti.<\/p>\n

\u201cMutti for life\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMutti or bust\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis taste test is rubbish\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most recent Guardian food test has destroyed the writer\u2019s brain\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI still will always buy mutti\u201d<\/p>\n

I spent hours laughing, grimacing and responding to the comments. I loved it, but I was also shocked by the sheer ferocity of them all. Two weeks ago, before I tasted 26 different tins of tomato, I was in the same congregation. Maybe I didn\u2019t cross my heart and pay my Sunday dues with the same loyalty as others, but my pantry almost always had several tins of Mutti Solo Pomodoro Polpa. But I have no idea why. It\u2019s not an inherited preference \u2013 I couldn\u2019t tell you what tomatoes my parents used. Maybe it\u2019s inherited by class or community. I\u2019ve seen Mutti in the pantries of many of friends, particularly those with Alison Roman cookbooks, Broadsheet subscriptions, and an intimate knowledge of their local specialty coffee options.<\/p>\n

\u2018Like the other 25 tinned tomatoes, we\u2019d blind-tasted Mutti straight out of the can and cooked into a sauce, prepared exactly the same way as every other product.\u2019 Photograph: James Gourley\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

When we have access to so many options, tinned tomatoes and beyond, what we choose says a lot about who we are. And it\u2019s hard to suggest you\u2019re cultured and considered with a supermarket home brand. You need something with a bit more storytelling oomph, and Mutti, a product emblazoned with Italian writing and claims about ingredient purity, is as good as it gets. Fill your pantry with unhomogenised peanut butter, Australian extra-virgin olive oil and a pasta shape that is neither long nor penne, and you\u2019ve got a culinary identification system for the Australian middle class.<\/p>\n

Without ever investigating further, I\u2019d subconsciously associated Mutti with quality \u2013 quality is what I choose, that\u2019s who I am. This is why, as soon as the taste test finished, I checked what scores the team of six reviewers had given Mutti \u2013 they ranged wildly from 3 to 7 out of 10.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019ve done more than 40 of these taste tests: if I\u2019m practised at anything, it\u2019s tasting supermarket products and identifying how they\u2019re different. But I was still so rocked by the result.\u2019 Photograph: James Gourley\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t feel right, but there were the facts. Like the other 25 tinned tomatoes, we\u2019d blind-tasted Mutti straight out of the can and cooked into a sauce, prepared exactly the same as every other product. And there was no evidence to say it stood out, at all. None of the tins did. We may as well have been reviewing white paint shades, I could tell they were different, but are any noticeably better than one another?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve done more than 40 of these taste tests<\/a>: if I\u2019m practised at anything, it\u2019s tasting supermarket products and identifying how they\u2019re different. But I was still so rocked by the result, I did another test with several varieties of Mutti tinned products \u2013 diced, whole, San Marzano and cherry tomatoes \u2013 and the same results came out. Mutti is neither better or different enough to make it worth buying.<\/p>\n

Knowing that is both incredible and horrific. Incredible because I\u2019ll save money never buying a Mutti tin again \u2013 Mutti polpa is $2.30, more than double the price of a supermarket home brand I\u2019d also be happy to use. But horrific because it doesn\u2019t at all fit in my understanding of the universe. Ingredients, restaurants, pieces of art \u2013 everything we consume and use, however directly or not to define ourselves \u2013 maybe they don\u2019t make much difference either?<\/p>\n

I think back to the time I tested peanut butter<\/a> and ended up liking Skippy Super Chunk Peanut Butter the most. It took me months to come to terms with the fact I prefer peanut butter with added sugar \u2013 a wildly unpopular opinion among people who avoid penne. Now I have to come to terms with this.<\/p>\n

This is why I think so many commenters were so upset. When evidence doesn\u2019t match how you understand the world or how you shape your identity, you don\u2019t want to believe it.<\/p>\n