"Made your own pizza?"
"No."
"Have you ever made bread?"
"No."
There is a tall thin young black male stacking prepared food items in the refrigerator section. Shredded mozzarella is on sale two for the price of one. The young mans' hair is fuzzy, half brown and half black and he is gracious as a person can be. A young black male is conversing with an old white guy.
This is fairly lousy cheese. They mix corn starch to keep the shreds separated. Still, it works well for pizza for a gooey cheese effect that stretches and it can be jazzed up with stronger flavored better quality cheese.
"Pizza is a lot easier than bread because you don't have to let it rise as a loaf of bread. It does that in the oven. And bread is very easy. Only a few ingredients. And it's fun because it's alive."
"I heard it's a lot better."
"Because you can pile up the ingredients. Anything that you like. No holding back."
I get this all the time. Young people everywhere have never made bread. Never even thought about making their own pizza. It's a mental block. I understand them. Because everything comes prepared by experts and one grows up in this prearranged world assuming these things require expert experience to pull off.
It's a very real revelation to learn that isn't so. Rather, manufacturers took the simplest things and produced them for mass market. Dolled them all up to worse representations of the things Nana made; Ragu, lasagna, perogis, mustard, pretzels, bread, butter and catsup, won tons, even mozzarella. Our industry separated us from the sources of our food and we are born into this world of industrialized food-separation. It really is a revelation to go, "Wow. I can make my own pizza. And put on it all the crap that I want."
I'm like Johnny Appleseed over here. Shut up, because I am; encouraging young people to try something weird; turn the oven on high as it goes, make your dough, stretch it out, pile everything on it, shove the pizza in and poof ten minutes later you got a true garbage can pizza.
Joy to the world. You've conquered the system arrayed for your benefit, your convenience, your ignorance, your self-reliance, your own excellence.
"Hey, that old white guy gave me an idea. Let's try something."
4 comments:
My daughter graduated this spring with a degree in Dietetics and Nutrition. In one of her classes, they divided into groups to make pie crust. Not one of her partners had ever baked anything in their life. One girl said that she watched her friend's mom make bread once. Unbelievable. My daughter is an excellent baker. She whips up bagels, cheesecake, or soup bowls with hardly a thought. I think she'll have no problem during her career, given the quality of her competition.
Homemade pizza has been a staple in our household for decades. I used to grate five different cheeses, but I'm lazy now and just buy the pre-shredded bags.
When I lived in Ohio I learned to make my own pizza and later bread. I don't think I ever saw a bakery there outside the grocery stores chains. People must have has soft teeth as crusty bread was not available. Forget about a good rye too.
OK, I cheat. I use my bread making machine to make my pizza dough. Then I make my sauce from scratch based on Mrs. Tank's recipe, the best. Then I add whatever I feel like, yes I've even added ham and pineapple, why not? The problem with home made pizza is that it spoils you.
My family prefers pizza fritta which I make fairly often.
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