The US may have lower standards when it comes to many other foods, but it takes the pie when it comes to pizza.
Posts: 883 | Registered: Aug 2005
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I've never been to Italy, so I can't say anything about real Italian pizza. But here in the U.S. of A.--there's nothing like a nice slice of plain cheese pizza from a New York pizzeria, the kind you fold in half to eat and the oil drips from it, lots of oregano in the seasoning--yum. I've never developed a taste for the various other forms of pizza found around the country.
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Where did you spend your time in Italy? I spent two years in Italy myself and I much prefer American "authentic" Italian pizza to actual Italian pizza. I was mostly in southern Italy, San Vito de Normani, Caravigno, Brindisi area and their pizza was not that great at all. Could be regional differences in pizza making just like we have in the States?
Posts: 1918 | Registered: Mar 2005
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You know, when we can't even get people to agree on thin-crust, pan-style, hand-tossed, or deep-dish let alone hawaian, pepperoni, meat-lovers, plain cheese, supreme, chicken & bacon (one of my favorites), or any other set of toppings...
I think Italian vs US is going to end up being a matter of personal opinion more than anything else.
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The best pizza in the world is made by me. No sauce. I challenge anybody to make something better than that.
Posts: 1594 | Registered: Apr 2006
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Okay, everyone make a pizza and mail it to OSC. Personally, I'm gonna use USPS, cause my pizza needs to ferment a little.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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I have had italian pizza and it does not have that thick and mmmmmmm feeling that a huge slice of pepperoni/sausage/extra cheese with oregano and basil pizza does...
Homemade all the way...
I dont think I can mail my pizza though,
because it is EXPLOSIVE!
Posts: 883 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Um. Actually, a scalawag is a southerner who joins the Republican party during Reconstruction. It's the carpetbaggers that are northerners moving south.
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
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I thought a scalawag was someone who doesn't know the difference between a possessive and a contraction.
Posts: 6213 | Registered: May 2001
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Hmmm...the best pizza I ever had was made by a really good cook in a small fishing village in Mexico.....beans on a pizza....who would've thought....
Posts: 147 | Registered: Aug 2003
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The word scalawag has historical connotations, true. However, the word today has lost that meaning. It no longer has anything to do with the Reconstruction.
quote:I spent two years in Italy myself and I much prefer American "authentic" Italian pizza to actual Italian pizza. I was mostly in southern Italy, San Vito de Normani, Caravigno, Brindisi area and their pizza was not that great at all. Could be regional differences in pizza making just like we have in the States?
You're in denial. You've been so long away from good food, you've imagined something that doesn't exist-- namely that the American profanity known as "pizza" resembles the Italian divinity of the same name.
I served a mission for the LDS church in northern Italy-- in Chivasso, Cuneo, Settimo Torinese, and Milano. So I know pizza, and I know divinity. And the twain meet and merge in Italy.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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quote:Hmmm...the best pizza I ever had was made by a really good cook in a small fishing village in Mexico.....beans on a pizza....who would've thought....
Yes, And if you forget to order "tomato" you don't get tomato sauce on it eather. The gringos sometimes call it quesadilla.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
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The best pizza I have ever had was at an Italian restaurant in Belgium. The American "Italian" pizza I have had to date doesn't come remotely close.
Posts: 134 | Registered: Jul 2003
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Scott, pizza is specificaly Southern Italian/Neopolitan and was not known in N. Italy until introduced by Americans. The Pizza in Capri is better than in Florence or Rome.
Posts: 1332 | Registered: Apr 2005
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The best Pizza is my homemade pizza. Thick crust, plenty of pepperoni, ample cheese, and sauce spiced just right. Wow… nothing better. Yum.
Posts: 2845 | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:pizza is specificaly Southern Italian/Neopolitan and was not known in N. Italy until introduced by Americans.
You're going to have to back that statement up.
At any rate-- the best pizza is made by two brothers from southern Italy in a ghetto outside Torino. The second best pizza in the world is made by a pizzeria owned by another southern italian family in the town of Chivasso.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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I make the best bagel pizzas in existence :-]. sorta- not that I've tried anyone elses. And Hawaiian pizza does rock. at least in Maui, there's a neat lil' place to the north? of Haleakala - northeastish, near the shore, I forgot the name of the place. Oh, and pizza in Greece is almost as good as upstate NY pizza, which I like because most of the places I get it from make it less oily and saucy and more cheezy and crunchy than in NYC. I don't so much like the grease when it's spilling, I like it better when it's absorbed or not even noticable.
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but, yeah, overall, America has pizza down, and I'm sure at least half our states do it equal or better than any other nation. for now.
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"Modern pizza is attributed to baker Raffaele Esposito of Naples in the Italian region of Campania. In 1889 Esposito, working in the pizzeria "Pietro... e basta così" (literally "Peter... and that's enough", established in 1890 and still operating under the name "Pizzeria Brandi"), baked three different pizze[1] for the visit of King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Savoy. The pizza preferred by the Queen was very patriotic, evoking the Italian flag in its colors of green (basil leaves), white (mozzarella), and red (tomatoes). It was named Pizza Margherita in honor of the Queen. This set the standard by which today's pizza evolved and spread worldwide[1]." —Wikipedia
Posts: 1332 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by vonk: Okay, everyone make a pizza and mail it to OSC. Personally, I'm gonna use USPS, cause my pizza needs to ferment a little.
Yum! Do you put sauerkraut on your pizza too? Delicious!
Posts: 7 | Registered: May 2006
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I thought the Chinese (Or Japanese, I can't remember which) made the first "pizzas". Then someone (Marco Polo?) brought the idea to Italy, where it became our modern pizza. Either way, homemade pizza is the best, if you can make it.
Posts: 1164 | Registered: Feb 2006
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M Cow, Old Chicago still does make some awesome pizzas, that's for sure. I do chicken with red onions and sometimes garlic. None of that thin crust crap either! Deep dish all the way. I have never been there when they've made the pizza you're speaking of.
When was it you were visiting our fine city? Next time let us know you're coming and we'll have lunch!
Posts: 2064 | Registered: Dec 2003
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I almost wasn't going to read this thread because it was going to be about Bush, or gay marriage. Phew.
Posts: 1757 | Registered: Oct 2004
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I think it all has to do with the environment in which the pizza is consumed. I don't think an Italian pizza made in Italy would taste nearly as good if eaten within the ambiance of a family room. Nor would a deep dish greasy Chicago style pizza taste good if it was being eaten outside on a street cafe, served by heavily accented, broken-english speaking, Italian waiters.
With the right backdrops though, the respectable personal Italian delights and American family pizzas can not be compared in any manner. They are like different species that share a genus; both wonderful in their own sense.
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Hmm, what about pizza eaten in a parent's bedroom while watching 'Corpse Bride' and 'Theif Lord'?
Posts: 1164 | Registered: Feb 2006
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Scott, oh, that is something I was told in Italy by a Belgian folk singer/art historian and is thus, like all my other travel stories, perfectly and completly accurate; however, I am only truely infallible when speaking ex cathedra.
Posts: 1332 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:You're in denial. You've been so long away from good food, you've imagined something that doesn't exist-- namely that the American profanity known as "pizza" resembles the Italian divinity of the same name.
You're making me hungry for American pizza.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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I tend to believe ScottR. I am yet to try Italian pizza though. So far the best pizza (by far) is thin crust Arinell cheese pizza in Berkeley. I assume it's much like italian since it looks and tastes nothing like typical american pizza. And yes, it is that kind that is very thin so you can fold it in two when eating.
Posts: 114 | Registered: Jan 2006
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