Variability

Not all things are created equal.  Today, in three meals, I had four highly variable species of pizza.

The first pizza was leftover frozen pepperoni. I ate this pizza from a plastic bag as I walked through a frozen urban park. My ungloved hand alternated from transporting slices to my mouth to passing them to my youngest son who was walking just steps away. There was a nice symmetry between the cold pizza and the cold air.

The second set of slices came from our favorite homage to ancient Roman culture- Little Caesar’s.  My usual habit is to render unto Caesar hot sauce, and today was no exception.  The typical Tabasco gave way to the available Frank’s and the results were good.  One of the best things about this meal is its economics. At 65 cents per slice there’s always room for one more.

The third pie of the day was like an American made pickup truck, locally assembled from globally sourced parts. The homemade pizza boasted broccoli, bacon, potatoes, garlic, cheese and, of course, crust. The compilation was dubbed “loaded baked potato pizza”.  This was by far the best pizza of the day for its novelty and the recognition of a concept well conceived and carried out.

The fourth pizza quickly followed the potato pie. I started this apple pie pizza with a fork but promptly found it was best eaten by hand.  The combination of a crunchy and chewy crust made a nice medium for the tart apples and sweet brown sugar to mingle with the home made whipped cream.

The amazing thing about today’s feast is that the four pizzas share a common ancestry with a prototypical pie somewhere in the culinary past.