From an European perspective, it has always been a point of divergence with my American friends and colleagues. They always want the fattier, more sugar-full version arguing there’s more taste and it’s “real food”, but in our point of view it taste like junk and don’t compete a second with a home-made traditional one (and are pricier !).
That’s my point about Italy having better ingredients. The assembling of the ingredients is the issue. This is why authentic Italian-American pizza is the best. The bougie places shell out for imported ingredients and cook them in the American style.
Just this month I was there and the pizza is a different concept there to be sure.
Street pizzas of thinly sliced zucchini or potato covering bread rounds with olive oil. That’s pizza in Rome.
Focaccia bread like crust with some anchovies and potatoe? Pizza.
Neapolitan style is just a different style again, but the theme is dough is not the delivery agent, it is the primary purpose. The dough is the important bit, with toppings being intended to enhance subtle flavors for it.
Italian pizza is most similar in American expectations of food typically found there, to flatbread dishes. It’s flatbread with some stuff on top to accent it. There is no cheese on most of the pizza I had in the various parts of Italy I was in. Cheese was not an expected component. Healthy or at least flavorful variations on additions to the dough are the goal.
Whether you are in Sardinia, Calabria, or Rome; pizza is pizza dough with local additives.
I have seen French fries on top of pizza in Sardinia, and this was called there “American pizza” :)
From an European perspective, it has always been a point of divergence with my American friends and colleagues. They always want the fattier, more sugar-full version arguing there’s more taste and it’s “real food”, but in our point of view it taste like junk and don’t compete a second with a home-made traditional one (and are pricier !).
That’s my point about Italy having better ingredients. The assembling of the ingredients is the issue. This is why authentic Italian-American pizza is the best. The bougie places shell out for imported ingredients and cook them in the American style.
Im not saying you should go to naples to try the real one, but have you at least ever been to Italy?
Yes.
Just this month I was there and the pizza is a different concept there to be sure.
Street pizzas of thinly sliced zucchini or potato covering bread rounds with olive oil. That’s pizza in Rome.
Focaccia bread like crust with some anchovies and potatoe? Pizza.
Neapolitan style is just a different style again, but the theme is dough is not the delivery agent, it is the primary purpose. The dough is the important bit, with toppings being intended to enhance subtle flavors for it.
Italian pizza is most similar in American expectations of food typically found there, to flatbread dishes. It’s flatbread with some stuff on top to accent it. There is no cheese on most of the pizza I had in the various parts of Italy I was in. Cheese was not an expected component. Healthy or at least flavorful variations on additions to the dough are the goal.
Whether you are in Sardinia, Calabria, or Rome; pizza is pizza dough with local additives.
I have seen French fries on top of pizza in Sardinia, and this was called there “American pizza” :)