Palates and Pizza in Different Places

Regional culinary peccadilloes are a big topic on internet food forums.

Two popular subjects I’ve seen discussed are fried potatoes and soda pop, which goes by different names in the U.S., depending on where you live.

I hail from a part of the country where it’s called “pop.” I now live in a state where it’s called “soda.”

 

Pizza in Different Places

I have a friend from Belgium who likes her fries, yes, Belgian style. That is, twice-fried and served with a sauce, usually mayonnaise. Twice-fried potatoes seem tasty, but I would pass on the mayo. Which can’t be any worse than the British practice of dipping fries, excuse me, chips, in vinegar.

I would also forego putting ranch salad dressing on pizza. For the record, “peccadillo” is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a small, relatively unimportant offense or sin.” Pouring ranch dressing on pizza is not a peccadillo. That’s mugging a pizza and leaving it on the side of the road to die. I don’t want to be a witness.

When it comes to regional idiosyncrasies, pizza seems to almost be in a category of its own, in how it is made and the way it is eaten. California is where lots of new pizza toppings have been explored, from peanut sauce to guacamole to curry.

It seems gastronomes in this state are willing to try a lot of things on their pizza. Except hamburger.

Growing up in the Midwest, ground hamburger was common on pizza, maybe more common than pepperoni. It still is. Plenty of pizza joints in the middle of the country offer hamburger pizza. Not so on the west coast.

Not sure why that is the case. Hamburger is a big part of plenty of dishes. It seems to be a natural for pizza, at least as much as guacamole or duck sausage.

So, what toppings do you like on your pizza?

What is your favorite style of pizza: Italian, New York, Chicago, California?

And if you have a theory as to why hamburger pizza is so rare on the west coast, I’d love to hear it.

 

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