PIZZA AMORE

I got sent this quote the other day on FB:

“Be with someone who gives you the same feeling of when you see your food coming at the restaurant.”

So true. Except for pizza.

Think about it.: pizza is not the thrilling experience of the unknown.

Most of us keep ordering the same pizza over and over again. Because it’s safe. We know what we like, we have experienced that taste before and all we want is to feel reassured.

It's like choosing a man who we know is never going to hurt us. We don’t want to be surprised, nor disappointed. We just crave a sense of belonging and familiarity.

When the waiter arrives, we don’t even look at the plate, as we already know what it is going to be. We maybe judging the crunchiness of the bread or the quality of the sauce, the degree of the mozzarella "yumminess" or the lack of "basilness", but in the end, the same old Margherita is never going to shock us. The same old Quattro Formaggi will keep us happy enough for the rest of our pizza lives.

But is ‘enough’ enough?

In love, like in pizzas, we should go for something that sweeps us off our feet.

To be really happy, we should order something that we are tremendously scared of.

A crazy lover, like a spicy pepperoni, a mysterious person like a Calzone, a messy, unpredictable human being like a Quattro Stagioni. Or simply go for a change. To find out who we would be, without the same old pizza.

Ultimately, changing your pizza orders can help you overcome your fears and be a better person.

Tonight, I am in the best pizza place of the Eastern Subs- Bar Mia- and I will be daring.

I asked my "pizza pimp" Enrico Sgarbossa to add black olives and rucola on my Margherita. He was proud of me. Such a courageous change!

I am thrilled. Worried. Repented at times. Is this crunchy disc going to love me as much as the old pizza? Will the black olives roll over my pink tongue in excitement? Or shall the rucola get stuck between my teeth like an argument between lovers?

The wait is trepidating. The hopes are running like shivers through my body. Illusion kicks in.

Between a glass of wine and a chat, I get agitated and aroused. It’s like being in my twenties and getting ready to go out. It’s pure imagination: when you keeping looking at something you can't see but you know you are going to love.

And then it comes, I keep staring at the waitress as she brings the plate. There is a feeling of anticipation and adrelinaline: the naughty olives are winking at me, the rucola is crispy and uncontained. I take my first bite like I kiss for the first time. It’s all crunchie, noisy, exaggerated and tasty inside my mouth. My gums, my taste buds and all my food receptors are in ecstasy. I am having a sexual culinary experience.

Enrico asks me what I think.

Here is what I think. "Dont' cheat on your husband. Cheat on your pizza."

@Bar Mia, Bellevue Hill with best pizza man Enrico Sgarbossa