The Pizzas

      In my third unit of my humanities course, Food for Thought, we learned a variety of things that relate to how technology has influenced what, and how we eat since the Industrial Revolution. In addition, we have learned about the impact that these changes have had on both our food and environment. I found that in this unit I was able to grow my descriptive vocabulary as I was able to taste the difference between organic and industrial foods. One interesting that I found was that most of my diet does not contain harmful substances as ingredients. They mainly consist of safe ingredients. I was tasked to complete an action project, which was to create a food review. The purpose of this action project was to determine whether or not there is a difference in taste between organically and non-organically produced food, and between fresh and processed food. I found that the most challenging part was describing the food so that the reader could understand and, in some way, taste the food while not actually doing it. However, I felt that I successfully reviewed the food by describing the flavors accurately. Overall, I am happy with how my food review turned out.  

 

A.R. (2018) Restaurant Meal 

Pizza is a short one-word food that comes in many flavors. This food may seem simple but can change flavors very quickly depending on the region of Italy. While so simple, it is one of the most favorable and flavorful dishes as it may contain multiple flavors such as sweet, sour, smoky, and in some cases, spicy. Some people may reject the dish, but more often than not, they love the flavor combinations of a pizza with the sauce, crust, and toppings. 

As a lover of Italian food, I happen to be fond of pizza dishes and being able to try a new authentic Italian pizza at a Los Angeles restaurant called Sotto excited me. The physical space of the restaurant was rather interesting-a small, simple room with a modern décor, mixed with brick walls that gave the building its natural feel. The ambience, which I found to be pleasing, held a distinctive vibe of a pizzeria that one may think of in the heart of New York City, with its brick walls and bustling environment. Its dimness created a very intimate ambience as well. They had many selections of Neapolitan style pizzas and I picked a margarita pizza.  

A staple of Italian cuisine, the pizza that was placed looked simple and yummy, with a bright red sauce, and had a crispy and charred edge, with hints of yellow from the fresh mozzarella. It also had a hint of green basil. Before I received my dish, I was agitated by the overwhelming smell of the pizzas being made as I was hungry. I could smell a sweet, bitter, astringent, flavor which contained a nice hint of a sweet fragrant smell of the wood from where it was cooked. The final touch was the basil, which brought out color and gave it a fresh taste. While having a simplistic presentation, the dish could be described as fresh and organic. I knew this because I could taste the freshness and the strong flavors, which reminded me of biting into organic ingredients that were not cooked or GMO processed. I could also see them making and grabbing the ingredients right in front of me.  

As I bit into the soft yet, flavorful dish, the chewy texture of the dough allowed the cheese and sauce to smoothly fall onto my tongue. This collectively created a uniformed pizza that was smooth, chewy, and one that contained a delicious balance between the two. As I continued to eat, I reached the crust. Once I bit into it, I found myself tasting a buttery, crunchy, sweet, astringent, and oaky flavor.   

Although margarita pizza is simple, it is made in many varieties. I found myself overwhelmed with the various recipes but I eventually found one that contained ingredients that have in the past tasted very good. I was sure to use natural ingredients to create the most authentic margarita pizza possible. I also believe that natural ingredients provide the most flavor in a pizza.  

After I made my own pizza, it looked striking with vibrant colors, which included fresh mozzarella with a crisp color of white, hints of dark green, which was the basil that surrounded the pizza, and a vibrant red from the sauce. The crust looked light in color but not crunchy. As I took a deeper look into the pizza, I found its smell to be a bit richer with it being sweet, bitter, astringent, and having a nice fragrance to itself. The flavor of the pizza was richer and exploded with more flavor than the restaurant pizza. I had an extremely flavorful sauce that exploded with flavors such as sweetness, a hint of spice, acidity, and tasting buttery. My dish appeared to be fresh and organic because the fresh ingredients that I bought from the grocery store were used and smelled like an abundance of natural flavors. After looking at the food labels, most of these ingredients are natural and did not contain harmful chemicals that were used in the process of cultivating it. Overall, I felt that I did a good job in creating a lingering flavor that reminds of the delicious bites.  

 

A.R. (2018) Homemade 

I found the restaurant meal tasting as if it came from the process of whole to refined as they seemed to have input something other than natural ingredients. I also felt that my homemade meal transformed from complex to simple by gathering various ingredients and placing them to create one symphonic food of flavors. Throughout this taste test, I found that quality was transformed to quantity with the restaurant meal because of the limited flavors of the pizza. 

The biggest difference between the two dishes was the appearance. My homemade dish looked a bit dull but had a vibrant taste. I also feel that my dish contained a heavier amount of ingredients than the restaurant dish.  

After trying the two dishes, I preferred my dish because the flavors were more vibrant and had many flavors within one bite.  The texture of the pizza and sauce on my dish was smooth, which I liked a bit more. I would recommend my dish because while my pizza did not have a nice appearance, it did have a wonderful flavor. I feel that my dish contained a variety of flavors that appealed and suited a margarita style pizza.