EATS: KOSHER PIZZA

Mamma Mia!

By: Shlomo Assayag IT’S A KOSHER Pizza!

When 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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

and pineapple seems to be a divisive topic. Is it really ok to put fruit on pizza? I know it’s not my favorite, but many find it to be a “be all and end all” topping when it comes to their vision of the perfect pie. Zucchini has also been a hot topic; done right with tomato slices instead of sauce, aka a white pizza, it seems to be a crowd favorite. The advent of plant-based meats has also really been a game-changer in the kosher world. These days you can get pretty close to the pizzas you see advertised in the mainstream pizza domain with plant-based ground beef, pepperoni, and even sausage!

Another part of the pizza that can make it or break it is the sauce. These days, tomato sauce remains the most popular choice. However, each pizza joint has its own special twists that make it distinctly theirs. From spicy to sweet and chunky to fine, the perfect balance of spice and tomato is another all-important factor when it comes to a great pizza. Many places also offer totally different sauces like Alfredo, pesto, and oil-based concoctions. From what I’ve seen, there are some very diverse options out there, but it really comes down to personal taste preferences when it comes to crafting that perfect pizza.

Cheese choice is another debatable topic. As a kid, we had two kinds of kosher cheese in Toronto - yellow and white. You know, those “American cheese” squares that really don’t belong on anything beyond a grilled cheese. You could also purchase small bricks of what was presumably mozzarella and shred it at home, but it never really produced that amazing melt we’ve all come to know and love. As the Toronto kosher community grew and demand for better cheese skyrocketed, we started to see imported cheese from the US and other places around the world. These days, there are very few cheeses missing from our grocery shelves. From Italian mozzarella and Parmesan to all the fancy, smelly French cheese you could desire, we aren’t lacking much up here in the North anymore. The vast expansion of what’s available has also changed the landscape of what you can put on your pizza. Classic mozzarella still seems to tip the scales in terms of popularity, but many shops have played with ratios, adding in cheddar, and even venturing into topping their pizzas with signature blends unique only to them. In the last few years, we even have our own dairy producer in Toronto who has made a point of bringing a wide variety of cheese to the market, all while keeping it local. If you’re ever in Toronto, you should check out Nature’s Best products. They’re the first local producer of chalav Yisroel cheese in Ontario and their cheese does not disappoint! When it comes to cheese there are certainly many variations to work with. The classic mozzarella is still my favorite, but I do enjoy trying different blends and brands of cheese on my pizza. The endless possibilities really make every pizza a unique opportunity to try something new.

No matter the pizza, I can safely say I’m a big fan. I mean how many dishes can you think of that offer so much all while incorporating several food groups? But seriously, however you like your pizza and wherever you like your pizza from, don’t be afraid to try new things and of course, don’t forget to keep it kosher!

Follow Shlomo on his Instagram @TheKosherKing for all his pizza reviews!

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Shlomo Assayag Is a contributor for Mochers Magazine, follow him on Instagram and Facebook @thekosherking