Jim Elbrecht > wrote:

> I think the cream added a lot more to it than the Vodka. Is this
> just the fad of the year- or is vodka [and/or cream] and old thing
> that I just never ran across before? Is it Italian?

It is actually one of the more frequently asked questions on rfc.

Posted some 10 or 11 years ago:
Here's what Arthur Schwartz writes at
<http://www.thefoodmaven.com/radiorecipes/penne.html>.

<quote>
This is not a traditional Italian recipe. I know because I was there --
more or less -- at its invention. It was the early 1970s and vodka was a
relatively new spirit to Italians. To promote the consumption of vodka
in Italy, vodka distillers provided restaurants with gizmos that kept
both the vodka and vodka glasses chilled and they held recipe contests
among Italian chefs. This dish was the rage in fashion-conscious Italian
circles in the mid '70s. I never see it anymore in Italy. But Americans
are entranced by the idea, even though it is nothing more than a tomato
cream sauce with hot pepper and a good dose of vodka, which, to be
frank, is hardly detectable in the finished dish.
</quote>

Victor