EATS
Mamma Mia! IT’S A KOSHER Pizza! By: Shlomo Assayag
W
hen the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore! For me, the first time I saw a big, delicious, cheesy pizza, it was certainly love. Growing up in Toronto the pizza selection wasn’t always great, to say the least. I remember seeing commercials on television or hearing other people talk about pizza wondering what they meant when they said they loved the ooey-gooey cheesy makeup of their favorite pizzas.
could even argue matzo was a precursor to the pizza, but I digress. According to the history books, what really changed the pizza game was the addition of tomatoes as a topping. Tomatoes were widely known as poisonous fruits when they arrived in Europe in the 16th century, but by the late 18th century, people had started incorporating them into many different dishes. Once tomatoes hit the flatbread style “pizzas”, everything changed and the pizza we know and love was born.
In the late 1990s, I finally got to experience a real pizza from a newly opened pizza shop in Thornhill, where I lived. Not a restaurant that serves pizza, but a bonafide pizza shop! I was met with a perfect crust with just the right amount of cheese and sauce, and of course, the mozzarella pull, signature to every good pizza. This was the real deal. We only made pizza at home and there’s just something about a professionally-made pizza that really outdoes the homemade stuff. As kosher pizza became more popular, I started to eat pizza more often and realized there were endless possibilities and flavor combinations that really made it one of my favorite things to eat and share with others.
Pizza, the Italian food we know today comes in many shapes, forms, and sizes; the possibilities are truly endless. I like lots of different types of pizza, but for me, it really comes down to the 3 C’s - crispy, crunchy, and crust. Anyone who knows me knows I love a good crunch. From thin crusts to fluffy crusts to deep dish crusts and even stuffed crusts, there has to be that crunch factor to really get my stamp of approval.
My favorite dish even inspired me to open the first ever kosher pizza shop in a mall. Centro Cafe was a labor of love and still serves the Toronto community today. We even have a huge assortment of frozen pizzas now available at most kosher grocers. Toronto definitely makes some great pizza, but it wasn’t until I started to travel on my kosher foodie tours both in and around Toronto, Montreal, and internationally, that I really started to understand just how diverse and delicious pizza can be. Even now, twenty- something years after that first “real-deal” pizza, I still find myself discovering new and exciting pizzas all the time. Over the last five years, I’ve been on an exciting food journey as “The Kosher King.” Amongst the many types of food I’ve enjoyed, I’ve had the pleasure to try and review over 50 different pizzas around the world and I’m still learning new things. Pizza is actually one of the oldest dishes around with early accounts dating back to thousands of years ago. Simple flatbreads with toppings were common in Italy as far back as 997 AD! Focaccia breads similar to pizza date all the way back to Roman times. If we go back even just a bit further, one
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From flour-based pizzas to gluten-free options, everyone can enjoy a pizza. I’ve even tried pizza crusts made from cauliflower! With so many options available, you don’t even have to give up on your favorite dish for Pesach or while on those dreaded carb-free diets anymore. Beyond pizza crusts the traditional flat way, I’ve also seen some new delicious items made with it like calzones, pockets, bites, and even sweet pizza. That’s right! Pizza isn’t just a savory dish anymore! The dessert pizza has taken things to a new level offering a sweet dough topped with all kinds of amazing treats. Next time a birthday rolls around, you can have pizza for dinner and dessert. If I’ve learned anything, creativity knows no bounds when it comes to pizza crust and the same can be said for the toppings. The average toppings are exactly that, average. Sure a mushroom or onion pizza is classic, but innovative ideas have certainly been going around the past few years with new pizzas that stretch the traditional limits. Just when I think I’ve seen it all, out pops a new and exciting pizza. One of my favorites is potato pizza. Thinly sliced potato atop a saucy, cheesy pizza wins me over every time. But, I’ve also tried pasta pizza (that’s right pizza with pasta baked on top), mac ‘n cheese pizza, and even poutine pizza, a new Canadian favorite. What you choose to put on your pizza has also been the topic of great debate. My followers regularly discuss topping options
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