# Is This Some Weird British Thing about Pizza? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 26, 2019, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-weird-british-thing-about-pizza/836114 "2019-06-26T17:40:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-weird-british-thing-about-pizza/836114/142 "2019-07-05T16:50:16Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I would only eat Italian food in England at a high-class joint where they understand it. Believe it or not, one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had was at a little cafe in Brighton, on the south coast. It was a very simple little Sicilian-style pie with anchovies, black olives, and capers, and it was absolutely delicious. Of course, it may have helped that the owner of the cafe was Sicilian. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2019, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-weird-british-thing-about-pizza/836114/143 "2019-07-05T19:06:36Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’ve seen Russians heat entire 12" supermarket pizzas in frying pans. Why they don’t just stick them in the oven, I don’t know. I’m not Russian, but my oven broke awhile back and I haven’t fixed or replaced it. I got a pizza cooker recently, but prior to that I would start pizzas in a pan and finish them under the broiler or toaster oven. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2019, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-weird-british-thing-about-pizza/836114/144 "2019-07-05T19:08:32Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > It’s like buttering a donut. Yeah, I’d say it’s worth an eyebrow raise. Yes, and eating the butter straight arguably would be healthier than eating the donut at all. That was my point. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2019, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-weird-british-thing-about-pizza/836114/145 "2019-07-05T19:18:00Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Drizzling olive oil on food has its uses, especially when broiling eggplant slices. And as far as the Brits doing it to pizza, it’s better than soaking french fries in vinegar (ecch). I’m a Real American, and that’s at least greatly superior to ketchup. Good french fries are best eaten plain (assuming that means they are salted/seasoned) or with vinegar. Real french fry places don’t even offer ketchup. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2019, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-weird-british-thing-about-pizza/836114/146 "2019-07-16T16:32:31Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > New Haven style pizza gets olive oil drizzled on it after it comes out of the oven and just before serving, at least at Sally’s and Pepe’s. > > I would only eat Italian food in England at a high-class joint where they understand it. I once grabbed a quick meal at a spaghetti joint and got a plate of over cooked noodles with (essentially) ketchup. I believe Brits are capable of cooking delicious food, but there’s something about the Italian style they just can’t wrap their brains around. > > (Sorry if I’m repeating info already given, but I ain’t gonna read another three pages of SDMB pizza arguments.) We can all play this game. I had the worst pasta of my life in Key West - overcooked linguine swimming a jar of clam juice and dried parsley. The chef had clearly never seen actual linguine alla vongole and I couldn’t eat it. At least quite a few Brits have actually been to Italy. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-weird-british-thing-about-pizza/836114/147 "2019-07-17T08:16:55Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Take, for example, [Dr Oetker’s BBQ pizza](https://superkeuze.nl/p/12618/dr-oetker-big-americans-pizza-bbq-chicken) from their “Big Americans” line of frozen pizzas. Or, their version of a [Supreme Pizza](https://superkeuze.nl/p/12622/dr-oetker-big-americans-pizza-supreme), which also includes corn niblets in it as well. (Yes, those are frozen pizzas, but I’ve seen the same thing at some sit-down restaurants.) Don’t associate Dr Oetker’s version of pizzas with anything sensible. They are born out of highly localised regional variations of pizza, with a version of “turkish” pizza possibly being their original big seller. They vary from country to country, and having lived in Belgium, Germany and the UK, you’d find there would be absolutely no overlap in pizza types in all of these. But you’d find their turkish pizza in Germany, where there was a large Turkish population, would not be the same as the turkish version sold in Belgium, and they’d just not sell that in the UK at all. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-weird-british-thing-about-pizza/836114/148 "2019-07-17T20:54:02Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > I’m not Russian, but my oven broke awhile back and I haven’t fixed or replaced it. I got a pizza cooker recently, but prior to that I would start pizzas in a pan and finish them under the broiler or toaster oven. Jamie Oliver does that, but the Russians had neither a broiler nor a toaster oven. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-weird-british-thing-about-pizza/836114/149 "2019-07-18T17:48:23Z")
I don’t know what kind of taste buds you all have where you don’t seem to taste the vinegar in ketchup. Ketchup vs malt vinegar for fries is not as great a divergence as you all seem to think. That said, any pizzeria that uses canned mushrooms (pickled), should be closed down. An infamia I say. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-weird-british-thing-about-pizza/836114/150 "2019-07-18T18:26:19Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > That said, any pizzeria that uses canned mushrooms (pickled), should be closed down. An infamia I say. I agree, yet I love the occasional salad with canned mushrooms. The one restaurant I know where the salads come with canned 'shrooms by default is owned/operated by a friend. When I asked about the canned mushrooms he told me that he loves them, but a lot of customers are quick to say, “hold the mushrooms” when ordering a salad. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-weird-british-thing-about-pizza/836114/151 "2019-07-18T18:29:53Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > I don’t know what kind of taste buds you all have where you don’t seem to taste the vinegar in ketchup. Ketchup vs malt vinegar for fries is not as great a divergence as you all seem to think. > > That said, any pizzeria that uses canned mushrooms (pickled), should be closed down. An infamia I say. There’s one place not too far from my house that actually gives you the option. For this particular pizza, surprisingly, I prefer the canned mushrooms. In no other context do I like canned mushrooms, but for the pizza at Villa Nova in Stickney, I opt for canned every time. But they at least give you the choice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-some-weird-british-thing-about-pizza/836114.md?page=7)