The Pasta Queen Made A Brief Cameo On Gossip Girl
Forget Queen B — there's a new queen in town making delicious Italian food and providing cooking tips to impress your loved ones. The Pasta Queen herself made a brief cameo on Season 2, Episode 3: Great Reputations of the new (and now canceled) "Gossip Girl" television series on HBO Max. Nadia Caterina Munno, aka The Pasta Queen, is an Italian cook and influencer from Rome who utilized TikTok and social media to build an online brand when the pandemic started in 2020. She now has over 2.6 million followers and over 45 million likes on her videos.
The Pasta Queen claims on her official website that she was inspired by a "blasphemous video of a horrifying lasagna" and her culture "being misrepresented" online. Munno grabbed a big enough following to even launch her first cookbook in 2022 called, "The Pasta Queen: A Just Gorgeous Cookbook: 100+ Recipes and Stories." The book is a #1 best seller in the "pasta & noodle cooking" category on Amazon.
Munno told Italy Magazine in an interview, "The book is dedicated to the women who raised me, from my nonne to my great aunties, who taught me the importance of the family unit. I wanted the book to highlight specific recipes that had defined moments of my life, from when I was born and raised between Rome and the south of Italy to falling in love and moving abroad."
@the_pastaqueen Wednesday's Lemon Pasta #temptress #lemonpasta ♬ Goo Goo Muck – The Cramps
The G.G. Cameo Appearance
So what did The Pasta Queen actually do in her brief cameo on "Gossip Girl?" "G.G." main character Zoya Lott, played by Whitney Peak, actually used The Pasta Queen as a resource on her phone when cooking dinner at home for her father in the episode while preparing carbonara. Quite a fancy meal for a high school student barely making it in the Upper East Side. Like many of us, Zoya is utilizing social media for recipes and one would be hard-pressed to find a better resource for Italian food online than Munno.
The Pasta Queen explains on her website's recipe for Spaghetti alla Carbonara, "It is said that a local Roman taverna owner took some of their eggs and bacon and with a little magic in the kitchen, the Carbonara was born, creating one of the most popular pasta recipes in the world." She continues and tells her followers, "Oh, and fun fact, it has no heavy cream in it. :)" Munno also explains that the popular dish was most likely created for U.S. troops in Italy who "had a strong preference for eggs and bacon."
What's Next For The Pasta Queen?
Although The Pasta Queen is originally from Rome, her home in the United States is actually in Clearwater, Florida, just across the bridge from Tampa, according to the Wall Street Journal. She told WSJ she wants to be the "Italian Martha Stewart." Munno spent time traveling through Italy in 2022 ahead of her book tour and posted videos to Instagram and TikTok about her travels.
The Pasta Queen is rapidly building brand partnerships with her own Ruffoni cookware set, a Starbucks latte drink partnership, and other brand deals on the horizon. She is also not afraid to take risks, having caused quite a stir on TikTok with her controversial "pasta cake" recipe. Although her appearance on "Gossip Girl" may have been brief, this is just the beginning for the new queen of social media.