Italians Are Using Pasta To Help Earthquake Victims

When a devastating earthquake hit Italy earlier this week, a town known for its famous pasta dish was completely devastated. The town? Amatrice. The pasta? The beloved all'amatriciana. The destruction was so severe the Washington Post reports, the town "is no more."

Thanks to one food blogger's idea, however, Italians are banning together to use the very pasta that put Amatrice on the map to raise funds for victims. According to Grub Street, Paolo Campana suggested restaurants give part of the proceeds from any bowl of pasta all'amatriciana sold to help the decimated town.

RELATED   The Other Roman Pasta You'll Fall in Love With "

The nearby town of Assisi answered that call, adding the pasta dish to menus and donating two euros from every plate ordered to Amatrice. Now more than 600 restaurants in Italy have joined the movement.

Italian eateries asked to donate 2€ for every order of Amatriciana to the town of Amatrice, where the dish was born pic.twitter.com/0Si3u3AvW6

— Junno Arocho Esteves (@arochoju) August 24, 2016

The grassroots relief effort isn't dissimilar to one that occurred in our own country this week, when chefs in New Orleans banned together to donate meals to Louisiana flood victims. CNN calls the flood "the worst U.S. disaster since Hurricane Sandy." To the chefs of New Orleans and those across Italy, we salute you.