Stanley Tucci Wants This 'Gross' Ingredient Banned

There's no shortage of controversial celebrity food takes, but some can be surprisingly common. Stanley Tucci isn't alone when he says that truffle oil should be banned, with even Martha Stewart harboring some brutally honest feelings about it.

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You've been warned, never serve truffle oil to #AnneHathaway or StanleyTucci.

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Tucci equated truffle oil on food to over-accessorizing in the fashion industry, essentially trying to "glam up" a dish through intense flavors rather than coordinating the ingredients to deliver a cohesive whole. He put it up there with oversaucing and says it's always a mistake to cook with truffle oil but is quick to point out that truffles themselves have their place. The key issue here is that a lot of "truffle oils" are actually synthetic blends, similar to how an artificially flavored cheese snack may actually taste nothing like the cheese it's imitating. The mushroom itself has a potent, unmistakable taste and requires sparing use to avoid overwhelming whatever it's put on.

While you can carefully control how much you use at home, many restaurants that use truffle oil also tend to over do it. While this may let them upsell a dish as containing "truffles," this also leads to a distinct side effect. Tucci points out that consuming truffle oil gives you a stomach ache, a common consequence even if you don't have an allergy. While he's a great advocate of Italian food and truffles, both black and white, it seems he's also a bit of a purist who'd rather have nothing than an imitation product.

As a devout foodie, Stanley Tucci has no shortage of hot food takes. While some are centered around a dislike of popular ingredients, still others celebrate his favorite recipes and pantry staples, all with the same level of passion he holds for truffle oil.

Just like another famous Italian, Giada de Laurentiis, Tucci is a big believer in an easy tuna salad lunch, but with an Italian twist (per Instagram). Tucci claims he can't live without marinara, so it's no surprise that he chooses it as his sauce rather than the lemon and oil Laurentiis prefers. Still, they both agree that a bit of extra white beans provides more bulk and a dichotomy of textures to their lunches. While he makes his tomato sauce from scratch, he appreciates the way that canned tuna sweetens up the sauce and counteracts some of its acidity.

While some may find his tuna salad recipe a bit unusual, it's not his most controversial take on the fish. One of his favorite classic Italian recipes is vitello tonnato, thin slices of cold veal served with a mayonnaise-like sauce prepared with tuna, anchovies, and capers (via TikTok). It's essentially like a breadless, up-scale version of a roast beef sandwich — think of it like a Piedmont take on surf-and-turf that's perfect for a picnic in a hot Italian summer.