Spaghetti aglio e olio

Boil a large pot of water and very generously salt it.
Peel the garlic by cutting off the woody edge. Do not smash the cloves because you need them whole.
Then slice the cloves as thinly as possible. Take as much time as you need. Set aside for later.
Finely chop the parsley and set aside for later.

Boil the spaghetti a little shorter than the package instructions. Don't throw away the pasta water!
While the spaghetti is cooking, heat up some oil in a pan over low heat and cook the vegan bacon until it's crispy. Then turn the heat to a medium low and add in the garlic cloves. Sauté until the garlic is just soft, then add in the chili flakes and stir through. You can add as much chili flakes as you want. I did a little less than 1 tablespoon.

Then turn the heat back to high and add in a good amount of olive oil and heat that. Add a ladle of the pasta water and emulsify this with the oil.
Scoop in the pasta, and about 2 ladles of pasta water. Don't worry, the water will mix in with the other ingredients. Mix this all until all the water in the pan is evaporated.
Add more pasta water if needed. The pasta soaks up the water so you may need to add more!
Then add in the parsley and mix. Taste and adjust the seasoning.