Another kind of 'A word from ...' On pizza and Matt Goulding

I spoke about Matt Goulding before when I wrote about burrata, but having now finished his book, Pasta, Pane, Vino I didn't want to let it go without a further bit of admiration for his writing with his chapter on Naples and pizza as an example.

Here he is scribbling in an Italian street somewhere - looking very cool and urban hipster. But the scribbling in a book is key I think. I'm guessing that if you are a good writer, you carry a notebook with you everywhere. Just like a good photographer takes a camera everywhere - although nowadays, of course, they don't have to - they can just take their phone. And I guess you can scribble on a phone too, but I suspect that true writers still scribble in a notebook. I don't - either scribble in a notebook or take a notebook with me - which just goes to show how amateurish I am.

I have also written about pizza before - specifically Pizza Margherita I think. It was one of the first things I wrote about. I have also mentioned pizza in passing many times I'm sure. It's so ubiquitous is it not? So today I thought I would talk about pizza in general, inspired by the Naples chapter, but I quickly realised I would probably be quoting big chunks of Matt Goulding, so I have changed it into an 'A word from ...' post. As I have said before - I think it was a really good read, if a bit romantic I guess.

Anyway - pizza - Here are a few of the things he says, with comments from me perhaps:

"What is the best pizza you've ever eaten? Close your eyes and take a few nibbles in your mind. .... If you're anything like me, the question will invite a flood of sweet memories - the exclamation point on a game well played, the umbrella in stormy weather, the scratching of an insatiable itch - but not an answer. That's because it's impossible to answer. Impossible to separate quality from context. Too many slices, styles, shapes, emotions, circumstances. Too many big moments."

The same comment about context is true about food in general I think. Certainly when talking about the best this or the best that. How much you enjoy food depends, not only on its actual taste, but also where you ate it, when you ate it, with whom and what was the occasion anyway. Food is emotional. Maybe we have to live a good and emotionally happy life to really enjoy it.

In Naples - a town with some 8,200 pizzerias apparently he went to pizza school - well the school that maintains the very precise standards of how you should cook pizza Napolitana and pizza Margherita - the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN). Yes there are rules, but of course, these rules are not followed everywhere. If you find a pizzeria with the AVPN accreditation on the wall though, it will have to follow the rules. Here they are:

"From the centre the thickness is no more than 0.4 cm (variance plus or minus 10% tolerated) and the border that is no greater than 1-2 cm forming a frame or crust. The crust known as 'cornicione' is one of the identifying features of the product. ...

The cooking of the 'Verace Pizza Napoletana' ... must be done exclusively in a wood fire oven which has reached the cooking temperature of 485ºC)...

Cooking times should not exceed 60-90 seconds.

The consistency of the 'Verace Pizza Napoletana' should be soft, elastic, easy to manipulate and fold. The crust should deliver the flavour of well prepared baked bread. This mixed with the slightly acidic flavour of the densely enriched tomatoes, and the respective aroma of oregano and garlic or basil and the cooked mozzarella ensures that the pizza, as it emerges from the oven, delivers its characteristic aroma - perfumed and fragrant."

Well I shall never cook the perfect pizza (I'm not very good at them anyway) because, for a start I don't have a wood oven that heats to 485ºC! Also as Goulding says:

"Given the utter simplicity of the ingredients themselves, there is nowhere to hide technical flaws with the puffy rimmed perimeter of a pizza Napolitana. Everything comes down to technique, and, as I learned, there are a dozen critical junctures along the way where shit can go terribly wrong."

making pizza 1

making pizza 2

He then goes on to describe his induction into cooking the pizza with more detail about it which sounds sort of boring but it really isn't.

He then goes on to talk about origins and the spread of pizza throughout the world. Here are a few more quotes:

"Pizza is the world's most popular food. Show me a human being who doesn't enjoy pizza and I will show you a troubled soul ...

Pizza is the world's most democratic food, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, black, white, brown, yellow, omnivores, herbivores, vegans, celiacs, everyone eats pizza in one form or another....

Pizza is the most versatile food ... It can please a crowd of hungry school kids, a couple on the verge of romance, a pack of men in suits ...

Pizza is the most regionalised food... Travel around the world and you'll find that the size, shape, and very nature of pizza evolve as you cross borders, time zones, equator...

And depending on whom you talk to, pizza is the most desecrated food ... Whereas much of the world sees pizza as a cultural canvas, an adaptable disc of dough upon which they can graft their own unique tastes and proclivities, Neapolitans in general and the AVPN in particular don't share this generosity of vision."

And here's a thought (or two or three):

"Humans have been topping flatbreads with various ingredients since Neolithic times, when Neanderthals cooked slips of dough over hot stones and topped them with oil and herbs. Since then, many of the world's greatest civilisations have been powered in part by flatbreads with stuff on top."

"Of all the great acts of alchemy executed in kitchens across the world, pizza may be the greatest. Flour, water, yeast, tomato, cheese - on paper, it reads like a shopping list for a household lacking in imagination. On the palate, it reads like one of humankind's greatest achievements."

"Why so serious? Can't people just cook what they want and let eaters vote with their forks and wallets? Wrapped up in this is a broader discussion about culinary ownership and appropriation that will only grow more complicated as food continues to evolve in its journey around an increasingly borderless world."

I daresay I've breached various copyright rules here, but I just wanted to show what a good writer he is and also to give some food for thought about pizza in particular and food in general - how it travels around the world, how we create memories and what food means to us all - over and above just feeding us - and aren't we lucky to be in that position and not starving, so that anything will do? You can find his books online and maybe in some bookshops, but if you buy them new they are expensive, unless like Monika you strike gold in an opshop somewhere. But you can buy secondhand copies online for much less. I might buy his Spanish one sometime. He's the sort of writer who gives you food for thought, whilst educating you in history, geography, culture - and at the same time I think inspires you to try writing yourself about the places you've been and the people you have met.

That chapter on Naples continued with a history of Naples and some views on the city now, as well as visits to and profiles of three master pizza makers. And yes the mafia was in there too.