Tell Rosa Catalano that you don’t eat pasta and you’ll get the evil eye, cast in a way that makes you almost fear this lovely 85-year-old, Sicilian-born nonna. From Rosa’s perspective, the anti-carb set is made up of easily-dismissed Philistines not worthy of her culinary love and attention. “These people are crazy,” she said last week from her Old Monterey restaurant Cibo Ristorante Italiano. “I ate pasta today and I feel like a million bucks.”

Catalano is too genteel to denigrate the late Robert Atkins, who launched his infamous anti-carbohydrate nutritional approach back in 2003. At the height of its popularity, 1 in 11 American adults claimed to be a fervent disciple, and the large following led to an 8.2 percent decline in pasta sales that year. Believe it or not, there remains a lingering effect. A record number of Americans blame gluten (a complex protein found in wheat, barley and rye) for their digestive ills — and simple carbs for their expanding waistlines.