Italian food has given the world so many different ways to carb-load, and it only makes sense to pay homage to one of Italy’s oldest recipes, cacio e pepe. The legend of cacio e pepe first started around the time of Rome’s birth — about 2,500 years ago when shepherds and merchants carried around the dish’s key ingredients in their sacks. Since shepherds lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle, they had to bring food with them that didn’t go bad. Typically, they’d carry dry pasta, pecorino cheese and black pepper. Over the years, there have been many different variations of this signature dish, but one of the best is at New York City’s Lupa Osteria Romana. “A lot of people consider our cacio e pepe one of the best in the city,” James Kelly, executive chef at Lupa told The Daily Meal. The popular, trattoria-style restaurant has been serving the dish since it first opened 21 …