Oh the pizza!

My international friends were right, you have not had pizza unless you have tried pizza in Italy. I swear i did not know pizza could taste this good nor did I ever in my wildest dreams realize the varied number of toppings you could have on a pizza. Let's face it, this born and raised in America girl only knows of Pizza Hut, Papa johns, Little Caesars and few mom and pop shops. I'm used to choices such as cheese or pepperoni, sausage and ham, triple meat, veggie pizza with onions, peppers, and olives, and let's get crazy here, ham and pineapple. I'm sure some of you have even eaten at the California Pizza Kitchen where their pizzas can be a little beyond the norm. But let me say this, in Italy, anything, and i mean anything, can go on a pizza. I remember going to pizza joints as a kid and adult or ordering online from the local pizza place and the menu itself was maybe 1-2 pages tops, and that included choices of salads, appetizers, and sandwiches. But here, mama mia! The menu is a little book. The selection of pizza ranges from traditionale pizze to specialesse pizze. And the selection, not one, not two, not even three pages, but rather 5-8 pages of pizza selections. Seriously, I would really need to study that menu for days before I could make a better educated guess at my pizza toppings. (And i say educated guess because not every menu has an English translation under it, so I have to either 1) guess at the toppings, or 2) translate, and well that could take a long time.

The kids are easy because they either want cheese (Margherita) pizza or pepperoni (Diavola) pizza. But for my husband and I, we like to step out of the box a little. One pizza I ordered had ricotta and spinach with the regular pomodoro sauce and cheese. Another one had funghi (mushrooms) tomato and zucchini. My husband, he enjoys the anchovies, prosciutto, and panchetta options. But tonight's menu took the cake because even though i had heard they ate this and even saw it advertised in a local grocery store flyer, I was not prepared to see horse meat listed as a topping on a pizza. let me just say this now, eww, ick and the thought of it repulses me. So I am sure that will  never be an option for me. Some of the other topping options for pizza included zucchini, artichokes, capers, anchovies,various types of cheese, panchetta, speck (bacon for you bacon lovers), prosciutto (ham), sausage, black or green olives, cream cheese, ricotta, braciola, buffalo mozzarella, suckling pig, eggs, peas, mushroooms, and eggplant. For a good idea of an Italian menu and to read some of the pizza options, check out this page: http://italianfood.about.com/library/weekly/aa021305.htm It's a real eyeopener.

One last thing, they don't slice the pizza here. Nary a pizza cutter shall touch your pizza. You will use a knife and fork or if you prefer, tear a piece off. You do not eat a slice of pizza by holding it to your mother and taking a bite. That is frowned upon and will make you a deadringer for an American. And lastly, you don't take a slice, roll it up and then eat it. Again, a definite no-no.