Sunday, August 9, 2009

Pizza vs Pizza

Pizza originated from Italy. It is now consumed all over the world. On a recent visit to Venice, Italy, I found a lot of differences between American and Venetian versions.

In USA, pizza comes in many sizes. Small, medium, large, extra large, jumbo, and family sizes. There are also many different types of crust. Thin, thick, deep dish and cheese filled crust.

In Venice, there is only size, like the size of a home made dosa, equivalent to an American type small pizza. There is only one crust, i.e. thin.

If we give an A for taste for a pizza made in Venice, we can give a B minus for taste for a pizza made in USA.

As for price, American pizzas are very cheap compared to a Venetian pizza.

In USA, margarita is a cocktail drink. It is a combination of tequila, grand marnier, and lime juice.

In Italy, margherita is a pizza. Traditionally, the main ingredients are olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, basil and cheese. It was first made in Naples for Queen Margherita and named in her honor.

In USA, pepperoni pizza means the main ingredient is pepperoni, which is made out of pork and beef.

In Italy, pepperoni vegetables pizza means the main ingredients are different types of bell peppers (capsicum). It is a vegetarian pizza.

Having said enough about pizza, what is my favorite pizza?

I have two favorites.

One is pizza with pesto sauce and veggie toppings. Pesto sauce (instead of red tomato sauce) is made by grinding basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic, parmesan cheese, olive oil, salt, and pepper. If you order a pizza, they automatically use red tomato sauce. In restaurants, you have to ask for pizza with pesto sauce. Nice pleasant basil smell with an accent on garlic flavor. If you do eat it, try to make sure your companion is eating it too. You will cancel each other out on garlic smell.

The other is Chocolate pizza at Max Brenner in New York. Yes, it is a real pizza. They use the real pizza dough. Chocolate sauce is used in place of tomato sauce. Marshmallow is used instead of cheese. The toppings are milk chocolate imported from Belgium, banana, peanut butter, and hazel nuts. They put 3 or 4 layers of thick melted chocolate. Yummy.

Chocolate and Pizza! That is a match made in heaven.

21 comments:

  1. Very informative. As good as eating a pizza. :-)

    One of the best example oh how food is manipulated to suit local needs.

    We have tandoori pizzas, Chindian(mix of Chinese and Indian )food too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for your comments Insignia. On my next visit, will certainly try Chindian pizza.

    ReplyDelete
  3. hiii SG

    i love pizzas..but I prefer wheat crust,....and I loveeee pizzas cooked my me :D

    very informative post :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. wow!! mouth watering post. very informative..

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh thats a lot of information on pizza SG!!! I've found pizza filling. Well even the dosas that we get here in rest of india as compared to south india is a hell of diff.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for your comments AS. I also like to eat wheat crust pizza.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for your comments JD. And, welcome to my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for your comments Nazish. Yes, pizza is very filling.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi SG, saw ur post at my blog. Thanks for the wishes for my daughter. I'm a foodie and i loved ur pizza post! :) if i ever visit venice i'll sure check out all the options u mentioned . :) nice crusty post!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for your comments Shruti. And, welcome to my blog. You will very much enjoy Venice.

    ReplyDelete
  11. What was said in the blog and comments are very true.
    Pizza has different styles, tastes, and toppings depending on the location.
    Even within one country (the USA), pizza differs from New York to Chicago to San Francisco to Hawaii.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I’m not really a fan of pizza - but if & when I start selling pizza at my locations I’m going to call it McPizza.

    Regards,
    Ronald McDonald

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks for your comments The Cagey Bee. Everybody brags about Chicago and New York pizzas. My personal favorite is Lizza's Pizza in Salt Lake City, Utah.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks for your comments Ronald. What will be the sauce for McPizza? Ketchup? What are the toppings? Chicken McNuggets, McRib, Filet-O-Fish, and French Fries?

    ReplyDelete
  15. WOW! Great job SG! Your post made the gastronomic juices (and saliva too) flowing! I'd love to have that chocolate pizza, but looks like I've to go to New York for that--too expensive!
    BTW, I'm assuming that your companion while eating the pesto-sauce pizza was a GIRL..hehe..keep writing!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks for your comments Varsha. Yes, my companion while eating pesto pizza is a girl. She is my wife.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh! Eating pizza in one of the most romantic cities in the world together!!!!!!! You guys are lucky yaar!

    ReplyDelete
  18. i work in dominos in london well i enjoyed very much reading it thanks for the information

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks for your comments Shilpa.

    Congratulations on your marriage.

    I was going to make the usual Domino's pizza delivery guy joke. Then I realized your profile says your industry is "Communications or Media". So, that joke is not appropriate for you.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Thank you for your mouth watering post. I am drooling now. I had a pizza in New York once and it seemed pretty authentic. Such thin crust, pesto sauce under cheese waiting to be bitten so that it can fill one's mouth with divinity and ya! the crisp veggies... my heart goes mmm... The regular fast food pizza cannot come close to that NY pizza. A grade for the NY and B for regular. I could see why you were tempted to put B- and not B, because I am too. But I will stick with B, as you had that pizza in Venice!!!!

    ReplyDelete