4 ms·

I lived in Bologna for a couple of years. The pizza there is so damn good I think you really should just be grateful and accept whatever they give you. Once y

I lived in Bologna for a couple of years. The pizza there is so damn good I think you really should just be grateful and accept whatever they give you. Once you start believing that you can have a pizza rossa with mozzarella, it's a slippery slope until you end up with a "deep-pan" pizza with chicken on it. (As another commenter says, this whole situation seems utterly improbable. Pizzaioli/e are generally friendly and happy to make whatever you want, within reason, and will just gently rib you if you order something silly, especially if you're a foreigner. At least, that has always been my experience, anyway.)

ATsch 11y ago
this is far from being a rare thing. I have had this happen to me at a local Italian restaurant, where I ordered a Pizza Vegetaria with parma ham. The chef outright refused to make it, but after a while agreed to make a pizza with tomato, Mozarella, ham and vegetables
- goodcanadian 11y ago
  Well, think about it. People would consider it very strange to order a vegetarian pizza with ham in English, too.
  - waspleg 11y ago
    I've ordered vegetarian with bacon or bacon and pepperoni or just pepperoni. Why? Because A.) It's almost always cheaper than adding half a dozen vegetables to some other pizza B.) It's also faster to order with less risk of someone getting the order wrong on.
    - waxjar 11y ago
      Reason A is a good reason to refuse to make your order.
EliRivers 11y ago
Apropos of nothing much, I spent six months working in Naples, billeted in a run-down coastal resort town some 15km west of the centre, on the coast. There was some adequate pizza, and some truly awful pizza, and at one point we got so sick of the only food options being pizza or pasta that we flew a cook in from England to make us a curry. A local cook was tasked with preparing the rice, which he got wrong. I suspect that out of the cities, the quality of food drops off significantly, and the range of foods, which was always pretty unimpressive in Italy, certainly drops off. This is going to be true everywhere, of course, but I suspect countries coasting on a reputation of good food suffer this to a greater degree.
- stefantalpalaru 11y ago
  > the only food options being pizza or pasta > the range of foods, which was always pretty unimpressive in Italy You know nothing, Jon Snow: http://www.giallozafferano.it/ricette-cat/ http://www.giallozafferano.it/ricette-cat/
  - EliRivers 11y ago
    The fact that what you eat before the main course is called the before-pasti makes it pretty clear. The word for meal is basically also the word for pasta. The last time someone took issue with my opinion on this, they gave me a list of foods demonstrating the huge range. It was a few different kinds of pasta, and some sauce that goes on pasta. You have done better than the last person, but the point isn't that there's anything wrong with Italian food. It's that in many parts of Italy, that's all there is, and they seem to be proud of this limited range. Just Italian food. Compared to the richness of food from a much broader range of origin countries that is on offer in many other countries, it can't compete, and it appears limited and dull. I had to look up the Jon Snow reference. I though it would be some clever quip about the veteran British journalist. Turned out to be a meme based on a similarly dull soap opera. Spare me (although as a way to soften telling someone they don't know anything, it's not bad). Here's someone else failing to find a curry in Naples: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187785-i421-k2751875-Is_there_any_Indian_restaurants_in_Naples-Naples_Province_of_Naples_Campania.html http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187785-i421-k2751875...

ATsch 11y ago

this is far from being a rare thing. I have had this happen to me at a local Italian restaurant, where I ordered a Pizza Vegetaria with parma ham. The chef outright refused to make it, but after a while agreed to make a pizza with tomato, Mozarella, ham and vegetables

goodcanadian 11y ago
Well, think about it. People would consider it very strange to order a vegetarian pizza with ham in English, too.
- waspleg 11y ago
  I've ordered vegetarian with bacon or bacon and pepperoni or just pepperoni. Why? Because A.) It's almost always cheaper than adding half a dozen vegetables to some other pizza B.) It's also faster to order with less risk of someone getting the order wrong on.
  - waxjar 11y ago
    Reason A is a good reason to refuse to make your order.

EliRivers 11y ago

Apropos of nothing much, I spent six months working in Naples, billeted in a run-down coastal resort town some 15km west of the centre, on the coast. There was some adequate pizza, and some truly awful pizza, and at one point we got so sick of the only food options being pizza or pasta that we flew a cook in from England to make us a curry. A local cook was tasked with preparing the rice, which he got wrong. I suspect that out of the cities, the quality of food drops off significantly, and the range of foods, which was always pretty unimpressive in Italy, certainly drops off. This is going to be true everywhere, of course, but I suspect countries coasting on a reputation of good food suffer this to a greater degree.

stefantalpalaru 11y ago
> the only food options being pizza or pasta > the range of foods, which was always pretty unimpressive in Italy You know nothing, Jon Snow: http://www.giallozafferano.it/ricette-cat/ http://www.giallozafferano.it/ricette-cat/
- EliRivers 11y ago
  The fact that what you eat before the main course is called the before-pasti makes it pretty clear. The word for meal is basically also the word for pasta. The last time someone took issue with my opinion on this, they gave me a list of foods demonstrating the huge range. It was a few different kinds of pasta, and some sauce that goes on pasta. You have done better than the last person, but the point isn't that there's anything wrong with Italian food. It's that in many parts of Italy, that's all there is, and they seem to be proud of this limited range. Just Italian food. Compared to the richness of food from a much broader range of origin countries that is on offer in many other countries, it can't compete, and it appears limited and dull. I had to look up the Jon Snow reference. I though it would be some clever quip about the veteran British journalist. Turned out to be a meme based on a similarly dull soap opera. Spare me (although as a way to soften telling someone they don't know anything, it's not bad). Here's someone else failing to find a curry in Naples: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187785-i421-k2751875-Is_there_any_Indian_restaurants_in_Naples-Naples_Province_of_Naples_Campania.html http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187785-i421-k2751875...