Pizza Pizza Pizza Pizza Pizza

This past week I escaped from cold snow covered Bra to the region of Campania in Southern Italy to begin my second study trip with my classmates. We arrived in Napoli and  we were so glad to see the bright sunshine and streets without snow.

Pizzerias are everywhere in Napoli

As with our other study trip there was a lot to see, eat and learn. Particular products and dishes of the region that are unforgettable were pizza, pasta and mozzarella di buffalo. If its not obvious to you yet this post is about my pizza experience.

The perfect pizza. That is something that does not exist as the notion of perfect is one founded on opinion and bias, and as I have learnt this week passion and emotion are integral to creating a satisfactory if not nearly perfect pizza. If the elements are not well mixed you get an unsatisfactory pizza. 

Ingredients for pizza

I do not claim to be a pizza guru by any means, but I can tell you that I am now more informed about pizza and I have a better appreciation for it. In the space of six days I had pizza on five different occasions each made by different pizza makers. I had good pizza and bad pizza and surprisingly I think my pizza experiences were linked to emotion and occasion.

Pizza experience number one: As close as I have gotten yet to a perfect pizza. When our class arrived in Napoli we had a lesson on pizza and the traditions that surround the loved dish. Our class sat down to for local pizzas made in the classical Neapolitan style with the best ingredients possible, baked for 90 seconds in a wood fire oven. Maybe it was the ambiance that made the pizza taste better or it was the fact that one of the five slices was a pizza covered in chocolate, or that we were famished and were in need of some food. I do not know but it was a delicious and memorable experience.

Pizza experience number two: Paraphrasing my classmate, “Why are they giving us this? Do they want us to know what bad pizza is?” We had slices of pizza at our hotel in Gragnano. After having had some delicious pizza two days before the hotel’s take on pizza marinara and pizza topped with buffalo mozzarella and mushrooms left a lot to be desired. It was a gastronomical experience I would rather not remember but one that gave me the opportunity to differentiate between a good pizza made with high quality ingredients and passion from that of mediocre pizzas that leave you wondering about the mood that the supposed chef was in.

Local vegetable friarielli being sold on sidewalks

Pizza experience number three: Street Pizza. On Friday morning we had a bit of free time to walk around in Napoli and we happened to be hungry. It seemed to be a good time to try out some of the popular cibi di strada of Napoli. Due to my allergies I tend to stay away from the more appealing and colourful pastries. I decided to spend my €1 three little Neapolitan pizzas. They were good for me for that particular time as they were warm and salty as I need a little bit of tomato, cheese and bread in me at that moment. Would I recommend these little pizzas all the time? No but if you need a little quick pizza fix-yes.

Pizza experience number four: Dinner at -. I do not think that the establishment is worth mentioning but if anything, worth avoiding. Experience four was a disaster. A group of nine of us ventured to the supposedly good pizzeria for our last dinner in Napoli. We were expecting delicious pizza for our last night. I think we deserved a delicious meal. I mean we had ventured the pouring rain and walked through the puddles of water, dodged the cars and scooters in the narrow Neapolitan streets only to reach our destination soaking wet, cold and hungry. We anticipated amazing mouth-watering pizza since the pizzeria in question had been featured in one of Heston Blumenthal's television shows.

Pizza con Nutella

There is little positive to be said about this pizzeria. One of our classmates is a professional food writer so he has had his share of bad food. He had no comment for the pizza from this particular establishment. To sum up the evening and the pizza: the people were wet (meaning us wet with rain), the ambiance: cold and not welcoming.The establishment was possibly too large for its dining cliental as on a Friday night we were the only occupants of the vast underground dining area. The pizza was wet-calling it wet is being generous; it was more soggy than wet. The cheese had drenched the pizza dough and the tiny visible basil leaves were chargrilled from the fiery oven.

Pizza experience number five: Pizza and meal in Sant' Antonio Abate. They say they save the best for last. This pizza ticked all the boxes for me. Although the pizza was not prepared in a wood fire oven the ambiance at the farm: "Terra, Amore e Fantasia"  made up for the lack of a wood fire. Our hosts were more than welcoming and my classmates were in jovial spirits. Our chef for the day: Chef Antonino Esposito made sure we enjoyed all the pizza and the various dishes he created for us. Maybe we enjoyed the food more because we only had a taste of the pizzas. The pizzas were skilfully served in individual portions- bite-size so you had to savor that piece and take it all in. Luckily for us we had several bite sized pizzas to sample. Pizza topped with meatballs, a simple pizza parcel with the local friarielli and sausage, pizza margarita, deep fried pizza, deep fried stuffed pizza, and those were just the appetizers! Chef Antonino further showed us how to knead the dough and make it elastic and stretch to unknown lengths. My classmates had their turn at stretching the dough and gaining some expert tips.

Feeling the stretched pizza dough. It was very elastic and soft.

It could have been the ambiance- our pleasant hosts and music in the background, or the bite size pieces or possibly the sumptuous San Marzano Tomatoes used, or even the fact that we were all drinking red wine at 10am. From these five experiences I would have to agree with the expert pizza makers that it must have been the passion. Experience one and five were filled with passion as we saw the pizza makers demonstrate their skill and feed a group of hungry gastronomes. 

I hope that the next pizza I have is delicious. One that allows me to taste the passion and emotion that the pizza maker should have for his or her pizza.