To each his own. Italian pizza and NY pizza can both be enjoyed for what they are. It doesn't have to be a competition.

I agree. When me and my British boyfriend went back home in Italy for a holiday, he tasted a real Italian pizza and said there's no comparison with the pizzas you get here from your average chain or supermarket. He's not a pizza fan either, but enjoyed the pizzas we ate there.
A good milky mozzarella is tasty; you don't need a hundred toppings to make a pizza taste nice or a hundred different cheeses... there are lots of different combinations so you do get different cheeses with certain ones. Anyway I never found pizzas back home tasteless, apart from extremely cheap supermarket ones.
I am not used to seeing chicken or meat in general on a pizza, apart from salami and ham; that was a surprise for me when I came here.
I like the Taste The Difference and Extra Special's pizzas here best. The Sainsbury's Taste The Difference one (with roquito peppers and salami) is pretty good and has a nice thick crust in my opinion. I think the crust is my favourite bit really.

McDonald's hamburgers don't taste of anything.

Obviously they can be "enjoyed for what they are" but there's nothing wrong with "competition" or recognizing one as better than the other.

He was responding to me when I compared pizza from Italy to pizza from New York. As I said to him, unless you have traveled all over Italy and New York sampling pizza like a madman, as I have done since it is my favorite food, you are also in no position to say that pizza from Italy is the best.

Exactly. Often times, though of course not always, foods are improved upon when they are released from the shackles of tradition that often prevents experimentation.

I'm not a pizza lover (you may have guessed) but the worst one I ever had was in Rome.

This thread has cheered me up! Who's have thought people could get so worked up about pizza?

Well, taste is subjective, and I like them both. Just because you like New York pizza better than the pizza you've had in Italy, doesn't mean New York wins.

I should never have taken the bait.

Apparently one time all someone had to do was mention pecorino and things got so heated posts had to be removed from the thread.

Check the burger / McDonald's thread in General Discussion. It runs to 25 pages or so

I could live on pizza alone.

Yes and no. New York pizza regularly smacks Chicago "pizza" in consumer challenges and polls. I think you simply have an issue with generalizations even though there is nothing wrong with them.

So it is!

I thought for sure yesterday's hay fever thread would still be going, but I see that's been resolved.

I didn't mean to say it's the best, just that it's not bland as you stated. You have your preference, I am not anybody to say you're wrong. I have never had a New York pizza, but I had lots of Italian ones and they might not be as tasty as the New York ones but not tasteless for sure. Of course being Italian, I am gonna be a bit biased, sorry
Out of curiosity, what's the difference between them? I am genuinely interested ... I mean, are there different ingredients?

Sure I said they were bland in comparison but that didn't mean tasteless and certainly not bad. Don't get me wrong, it is hard for me to knock any pizza and I have certainly had excellent pizza in Italy.

Generally speaking, and I have to emphasize *generally* since there is bad and mediocre pizza to be found anywhere, New York pizza has a richer chewy crust while also being crisp, whether it is the more common thin crust or the thick crust. The crust is so good that on its own it is some of the best bread you could ever eat. The sauces are richer in flavor instead of lite marinara like sauces. And fiinally, instead of just using mozzarella cheese, blends of richer flavored cheeses are mixed with the mozzarella, because let's face it, mozzarella on its own, even the best, is rather bland tasting.

*Traditional* Italian pizza is much more subtle in flavor and lite in texture in comparison and subsequently tends to be healthier, I have to admit.

Are you a Brit with Italian heritage or actually Italian?

Thanks, will check it out.


This. I have enjoyed both equally but they are not trying to be the same thing so to compare them seems a bit pointless to me.


Had this last night and have to agree it was very good. The dough, especially crust, was great.

Thanks for the explanation. I am Italian, I moved here at the end of 2010.

You are so correct. My partially sighted friend was eating a fillit of fish burger he thought was a chicken burger! He said it was so tasteless he never even noticed although he hates fish!

Well I don't like buying cheap meat, so the sausages I buy cost £4, that's nearly half of the amount already spent. I suppose you could get all that for a tenner in Iceland and the like though. I just prefer not to shop there. Each to their own.

I've had pizza in both Italy and New York. In Italy the ones I had were simple but delicious. The ones in New York were delicious also but had a real taste explosion in the mouth. The competition for good pizza is intense in NY because they love their pizza and a joint that is not up to scratch will soon close down through lack of customers so in general the quality is cosistently very high.
I guess a purist will prefer pizza in Italy but on balance I prefer those in NY. It is 2 different experiences though IMO.

Quite a lot actually, do you want a list?

The best burger I've ever had was in London. This doesn't prove anything either.

The prices are indeed outrageous. I don't like any brand of supermarket pizza I've tried, the base:toppings ratio is always way off. The only ones I really do like are the create your own counters, they are generous with toppings and the base isn't too thick and stodgy.

Good description, and I agree that it's "2 different experiences."

Why would anyone think one burger you had in London is indicative of the general quality of burgers in London? As I said, your sampling would have to be significant so such a comment makes no sense based on what I have been saying.

Considering the unlikeliness in general, and your initial and continued defensiveness, it is also hard for me to believe you have "quite a lot" of experience traveling through Italy and New York eating pizza. Sorry.

Keep an open mind my friend. There is a nice Italian individual in here who wasn't offended by my comments about pizza in Italy but for some odd reason you seemed offended from the get go. In the end it's just food.