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Pizza publicity pile-on

It took 98 of pizza's 100 years in America for the humble pie to find its way onto the media radar. Now multiple books and a feature-length movie are being dedicated to pizza.

April 18, 2005

For 98 years, pizza in America was basically an edible collage of dough, sauce and cheese — and well, the core of a major food segment. But over the past two years, it has gone from a simple meal to become a media darling. The same pies sold at any one of 63,000 pizzerias are now the subject of books, TV shows and an upcoming feature-length movie.

Why, after nearly a century, are writers, producers and filmmakers saying to themselves, "Hey, pizza's interesting! Let's highlight it"?

If you ask the people behind the micro-media blitz, you get a multifaceted answer: Pizza is loved the world 'round; it's the quintessential communal food; its history and the people behind it are fascinating; and it's just so good.

From the broadest perspective, said Peter Reinhart, author of "American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza," pizza is caught up in the ongoing culinary awakening of America that began 25 years ago. Newfound awareness for uniquely American foods like Cajun and southern-style

I've always had the missionary gene, and I want to be the missionary for great pizza — for pizza being a handmade food by people who understand great ingredients and the value of craft. -- Ed Levine, Author, "Pizza: A Slice of Heaven"

cooking ignited the trend, which then spawned a deeper interest in food sub-segments, such as artisan breads and craft beers.

"So there's so much happening with all sorts of food, and now it's critical mass time for pizza," said Reinhart, chef on assignment at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, N.C. "Trade publications like yours have created the infrastructure for all this awareness, and now you're seeing things like a whole weekend devoted to pizza on the Food Network. That's amazing."

Reinhart also believes the burgeoning artisan pizza movement piqued pizza interest for observers like him. "The question of the day for almost everything now is, 'What's the difference between good and great?' You have a growing number of pizzaioli who are now answering that with pizza."

Ed Levine spent more than a year traveling both the United States and Italy in search of great pizza to write about for his book, "Pizza: A Slice of Heaven." The native New Yorker admitted he was more than jaded by the pizza he'd eaten in his hometown, but the pull of pizza's universal appeal drew him to taste and see what lay beyond the bustling borders of the Big Apple.

"There's so much to report about and observe within the confines of the culture of pizza making," said Levine, a food writer for The New York Times. "Even pizza I think is bad pizza is still melted cheese on warm bread ... which ain't all bad."

Like Levine and Reinhart, filmmaker Michael Dorian never expected to become as hooked on the mere subject of pizza when he began compiling footage for a feature-length documentary a year ago. But the deeper he and business partner Joe dos Santos slipped into the vortex of the pizza industry, the more irresistible its draw became. The fact that the "characters," as Dorian calls them, are fascinating just being themselves will tell a story audiences have been primed for by the genre of reality TV.

"People are finally understanding and recognizing that the real world is an interesting place in and of itself and without any embellishment," said Dorian, co-owner of Cat Price Productions in New York. "People are extraordinary; you don't need to look to Hollywood movies and characters on TV to find people who are larger than life. The pizza industry is full of them."

Dorian's work has sent him scurrying in all directions across the United States and to Italy to film the World Pizza Championships in March. To his chagrin, he had to decline an invitation to document the Australian pizza industry "because I've got to get this thing done sometime! And if I went to Australia, then how could I not film pizza in Japan and China and everywhere else?"

Already, Cat Price has filmed more than 200 hours of interviews with pizza folk and at industry events; that has to be edited down to a 90-minute finished work titled, "Pizza! The Movie." Some of the footage also is slated for a potential 13-part series for PBS, hosted by Reinhart.

"It should be finished by October or November, and in an ideal world, it'll be out by Christmas. But realistically, it'll probably be next year," said Dorian. Will the movie really succeed at the box office? Dorian believes so. "I'm confident that I know enough about what Hollywood studios are looking for right now. They say they are actively seeking independent documentary films like 'Super Size Me.' This doesn't have the controversy that film did, but it has an incredible story people will want to watch."

People and passion

When Chicago magazine dining editor Penny Pollack was approached last year to coauthor a book on pizza, she never expected people — both inside and outside the industry — would regard pizza with such fervor. When asked about their favorite pizza, her subjects not only shared stories about their favorite pies, those tales most often were rooted in family and childhood pizza experiences. In short, it wasn't just about the food.

"I've never heard so much passion in my life as I have on this subject," said Pollack, whose book (coauthored with Jeff Ruby) is named "Everybody Loves Pizza," and is due out in October. "When you ask them about their favorite pizza, people's eyes just light up. You hear their voices go up a few octaves. ... Across the board, when we told them the title of the book, the response was always, 'You got that right.'"

In the research phase, Pollack said she was amazed at how many pizza makers were so willing to talk candidly about their trade.

"Some talked so lovingly about their recipes and about fresh ingredients and about how the crust recipe is the family secret somewhere in a safety deposit box," said Pollack. "And then others would say, 'Hey, it's not brain surgery. It's water, yeast flour and salt.' It went from 'secret ingredients' to, 'Sure I'll give you the recipe,' depending on who you talked to."

By and large, Dorian has found the same openness among operators, even in Italy.

"I went to five pizzerias in Naples — three of them cold, without letting them know ahead of time I wanted to do an interview," he said. Sometimes he'd order a pie and start a conversation as an ice breaker, and on other occasions he'd simply announce that he was making a film. "And all of them wanted to talk on camera. It was no big deal to them."

Whether newfound praise or recognition for their work is leading the world's great pizzaioli to talk to the likes of Dorian and Pollack isn't clear. What is certain, however, is American audiences are fascinated with craftsmen of all types. The success of TV shows like "Orange County Choppers" and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" proves commoners find the unusual and original works of the inspired, well, inspiring.

That same fascination has drawn all three authors and Dorian to visit with artisan pizza makers like Chris Bianco (Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix) and Domenic DeMarco (DiFara Pizza in Brooklyn, N.Y.) Levine calls them and others like them "keepers of the flame," both literally (because all use wood- or coal-fired ovens) and symbolically because of their dedication to handcrafted pizza.

Currently, the collective light emitted by those keepers' flames pales in comparison to the glaring sun of the slick, highly styled and well-marked modern pizza industry. But both Reinhart and Levine expect that will change over time, just as it did with artisan bread bakeries and craft breweries. If they can help it — and they hope their books do just that — the hoi polloi's fascination with great pizza will only increase.

"I've always had the missionary gene, and I want to be the missionary for great pizza — for pizza being a handmade food by people who understand great ingredients and the value of craft," said Levine. "Wouldn't it have been great if there were at least one of those pizzerias in every town of 50,000 or more in America? The country would be better for it."