What's Da Buzz?

A Hawaiian Pizza is an interesting food that lands itself into a Did You Know / Life Here and There topic. Hawaiian pizza is a bread crust, tomato paste base, with ham, pineapple and of course cheese. The article is to demonstrate just how off assumptions can be on food and how differences are found everywhere.

First, Hawaiian pizza has nothing to do with Hawaii. It was invented in Germany as a modification to Italian food. Yes, there is a website devoted to tracking down all of the truth related to pizza.

Here is where it gets interesting. When I was in the Philippines, I liked having pizza there. I wasn’t fond of pizza when I came to the USA and now I know why.

The first difference lies in the crust. The difference comes in the ingredients used to make the dough. Obviously, I didn’t ask the Philippine pizza stores for their recipes so if anyone can correct me that would be great. In any case, any oil that is used in the creation of the pizza batter is dependent on the area you are from. Coconut oil would be the likely ingredient in the Philippines whereas the USA would be using Canola or vegetable oil most likely. Olive oil runs expensive and is not likely to be used in either place. Then comes what is the flour used. Wheat flour is the norm in the USA. Rice flour or Yam flour in the Phils?

Then the sauce comes next. I found the USA pizza to be bitter or nowhere near as sweet as what I was used to in the Philippines. The sauce has a base of tomatoes which are acidic or definitely not sweet in the USA just like their ketchup. In the Philippines, our ketchup and likely pizza sauce is based on bananas.

What version of cheese and how much depends on the place that makes the pizza.

The kind of ham and taste depends on the breed and what it was fed.

But at least the pineapples are safe right? That has to be a native Philippine food right? Well, it isn’t.

Pineapples are originally from the Americas. They were cultivated by the Native Americans in the Brazil and Paraguay areas and spread out from there.

Now you know that a pizza isn’t necessarily what you think it is.

Thanks,

Anah

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