National Pizza Day

We had a double holiday on September 5th. Most people know that is Labor Day, but it was also National Cheese Pizza Day. I have been happily retired for many year so Labor Day is not appealing. I don't want to honor workers. I just want to not be one of them. And Pizza Day? Well, I am one of those who can take or leave pizza. Maybe it's because that grocery store frozen pizza and most of the fast food pizza sold doesn't do it for me. Real pizza though, when simple and constructed of quality ingredients, is delicious. On National Pizza day you are supposed to eat a pizza authentic style. That is, no toppings on your cheese pizza. In maters of pizza I do think simplicity and fine ingredients are best.

A quick history of pizza gives kudos to the Italians, the inventors who seem to be the masters of good food.  If I could eat in any country I would pick Italy, where passion for and knowledge of good food is a birthright. Pizza first appeared in the 10th century, in a Latin manuscript from Gaeta in Central Italy. Essentially, it was a flat bread with a few toppings that was cooked at high temperature in a bread oven. And it was originally peasant food. But modern pizza was invented in Naples, Italy. Anyone who has eaten pizza in Italy knows that simplicity is what it is about. In Italy pizza has few toppings. Most pizzas there are made of  just the dough, a small dollop of tomato sauce, cheese and basil. That's it.  But elsewhere in the world today pizza is so varied it's hard to recognize. That's probably why it has become extraordinarily popular in most areas of the world.

I remember the best slice of pizza I ever ate was purchased from a street vendor in Moscow, Russia just after the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. Who would expect pizza perfection from an Arbat market vendor? But when I saw the swarm of Russians around the seller I gave it a try. (Not a big risk because most Russian food is awful anyway) I got my slice breaking Russian law by slipping the vendor payment in dollars rather than rubles. He was pleased to get the dollars and there was no arrest and jail for either he or me, but that slice was divine. The lesson learned was to expect good and bad pizza anywhere. Hmmm Maybe that guy was an Italian in disguise.

Anyway, I fear most of the world that is new to pizza only knows it from the substandard American pizza chains one can find anywhere. (Is that Pizza Hut chain more entrenched in China than the U.S.? It seems so, as it is everywhere there) The quality of those places is low, but for a person who has not had authentic pizza it  must seem tasty, given the axiom that all pizza has redeeming value. But there is good pizza to make at home or eat in those upscale restaurants that do it the right way by cooking it in brick ovens. Have I touched your tummy? Are you hungry yet for pizza?