The name originated in Naples for this alla casalinga, simple "home-style" tomato sauce which has been "tarted up", as the English would say. Or named because of the sauce's hot, spicy flavour and pungent smell. Another is that the dish was offered to prospective customers at a low price to entice them into a brothel. According to chef Jeff Smith of the Frugal Gourmet, its name came from the fact that it was a quick, cheap meal that prostitutes could prepare between customers.