Pizza Haters....

[EcclesCake]

Will you please put me out of my misery and tell me what is so heinous about a pizza?

To my mind a pizza is little more than a fancy cheese on toast with extra toppings of your choosing.

I genuinely don't understand why it should be reviled so.

[Mamyalynne]

Don't put cheese on Pauln.

[EcclesCake]

Thank you to those who have explained their dislike being down to cooked cheese. That make perfect logical sense to me.

I also agree with those who balk at the prices on the pamphlets shoved through our letter boxes. A home made pizza costs so little and is a great way of using up odds and ends for the fridge. The grossly inflated prices from Dominoes etc and gross pizzas do little to support my argument that pizza doesn't have to be a *** fat fest.

I'm wondering where New Judge eats when holidaying in Italy though as you have been missing out big time!

[ethandron]

I really can't imagine mascarpone on a pizza?? Soggy bottom comes to mind..

[New Judge]

New Judge doesn't go to Italy for two reasons:

1. The food (see above)

2. The people. When more than two of them gather (and you seldom see them less than four or six up) they seem singularly unable to hold conversations where only one of them speaks at a time. If you have eight Italians together all eight of them speak at once. Of course the volume of their voices increases with every minute as the eight of them challenge each other to be heard above the other seven. It's a complete waste of their time (though that does not bother me much) but it's absolutely irritating and annoying for everybody around them. I travel quite a bit but avoid any area which I know entertains large numbers of Italians, so irritating do I find them. It's strange because they seem to like to portray themselves as sophisticated and chic, but nothing could be further from the truth.

I went to Italy once. Never, ever again. Shame, because it seems a nice place.

[jomifl]

Pizza...anchovies.... black olives...tomatoes. delish.!

[jomifl]

NJ. Italian food isn't just pizzas and pasta, it is wonderful, they just don't go on about it like the French. It is not unusual to be able to get a table for 2 in an Italian restaurant (in Italy) where you can have the undivided attention of you partner :o)

[zebo]

New Judge's description of Italian food made me smile, I've always felt the same, we have just had a week in Sicily and I always struggle with their menus. Someone commented on Dr Oetker pizzas, I put them straight onto the oven bars rather than a tray and they're not floppy, the base crisps up.

[New Judge]

Yes. Surrounded by tables of eight or ten shouting natives !!!

[pastafreak]

My best memories of growing up are the family meals with my mother's (Italian) side of the family. Yep...everyone shouting,laughing...full of life,zest and all talking at once. Meals that lasted for hours,with never an angry word.
New Judge just comes across as a horrible snob.

[jomifl]

NJ, I sympathise with you re. noise levels. On a flight from the Seychelles to UK once the two Italian women sitting behind us spoke non-stop for what seemed like a week but may have been only about 8 hours. I find that the French need to spend more time talking than the British. I am beginning to suspect that French so lacks precision that everything has to be said in 3 different ways to avoid ambiguities.

[jno]

I like a chatty meal too, pasta, though my duff hearing makes it hard work these days. Who wants to eat in silence?

[New Judge]

There's quite a difference, pastafreak, between having a noisy, lengthy meal (all talking at once) in the comfort and privacy of your own home and doing the same thing in a restaurant where other people might just not enjoy the experience of half a dozen or more people simultaneously shouting at each other for the entire evening. It's simply a matter of showing a little respect for those around you. Sorry if you find this horribly snobby but that's the reason I avoid Italy and anywhere where I know Italians might gather. I'm sure they're lovely people. But they just cannot hold a conversation - they simply shout at each other as you seem to have confirmed and strangely enough it's not everybody's bag.

But let's not argue. It doesn't bother me because I know how to avoid it.

[Elina]

^ Aww .... I enjoyed that ! Aren't we all very passionate about things :0)

[janbee]

I love pizza. Who hates it? What's to hate about it? Name and shame these haters !!!

[Elina]

Hee hee jan, love pizza myself ... once in a while. N J has struck his gavel up there ;0)

[pastafreak]

"It's simply a matter of showing a little respect for those around you."
And what if everyone talking at once is part of local culture?

Must be all that sunshine...and pizza.