Over 70's: Do you remember your first pizza?

[stuckmotor]

I'd heard of pizzas on TV and someone brought some frozen bread concoction back from the grocery store that might have been a pizza and baked it, I probably tasted that. Finally the first local burger chain that I remember added pizza to their menu. That was my first taste of what I call real pizza. I must have been around ten. Grits and cornbread were a different matter entirely.​

 

[Oaktree]

I was maybe 12, was at a friend's house and we made it from a box kit that contained flour and a small can of sauce. I think we just put sliced cheese on it, no other toppings. Appian Way was the brand I think, and IIRC it cost 39¢. We started using the same mix at home, baked it on a cookie sheet, again with just sliced cheese for topping.
Don't think I ever had a "real" pizza until I'd left home.

I've never had grits, don't think I ever had cornbread until well into adulthood. Certainly not something my mother would have made.

 

[/pine]

I remember being able to get a pizza in a box at the grocery store...it had dough, sauce and cheese...it was from "Chef Boy are you kidding"...!

 

[Buggs67]

WOW. Being from the NYC metro area originally we always had pizza and the person making it and serving it spoke with a Italian accent. Ironically since I lived in a town that was predominantly Irish and Italian I never had a bagel until I was in college.

And it wasn't until I was about 33 that I heard of and ate Sausage Gravy and Biscuits.

Another funny story; my neighbor here in Central PA had never heard of Corned Beef that didn't come out of can until he was in his 50s.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I remember it well; it was 1957, at a pizza place called "Sussy's", on North May Avenue in OKC. In those days they called it Pizza Pie. It was thick cheese, hot, and all of the skin peeled off the roof of my mouth. I never ate another bite of one for a couple of years, until I went with some friends to a place in Albuquerque called "El Sol". It was a supreme, or a sausage as I recall; with thin crust and I have been a fan ever since!

 

[Oaktree]

And it wasn't until I was about 33 that I heard of and ate Sausage Gravy and Biscuits.

Another funny story; my neighbor here in Central PA had never heard of Corned Beef that didn't come out of can until he was in his 50s.

The only corned beef I've ever had was either from a can, or sliced deli meat from the supermarket for years. Hate to sound ignorant, but didn't know it came any other way until maybe 20 years ago.
I was probably in my late 40s/early 50s first time I had biscuits & gravy. Didn't feel like I'd missed much, don't think I've had it since.

 

[/pine]

Pizza like most of us know it is really an American dish...order pizza in Italy and you likely won't recognize it...!

 

[dmccarty]

I can't remember the first pizza I had, but as a kid, we had pizza from restaurants, frozen and from a box. The "stuff" in a box was just horrible and we did not buy that very often. Once was enough Frozen pizza can be ok, especially today, not so much back then. My kids, I don't know what is wrong with them, will buy those boxes with crackers, sauce and meat, and call that pizza. <puke>

Like many dishes, biscuits and gravy, grits, and corn bread, all depend on who is making it. We were in the middle of no where in TN on a hunting trip and we stop at the place for breakfast. It was a small house on the size of a hill and every one working there, all woman, seemed to be related to each other across at least three generations. The red eye gravy and grits were awesome as was the biscuits and gravy. The place had NO bathroom. When they said outback, they meant out back and we ain't talking Australia.

Decades later I was in a small town in NC in the mountains and stopped for breakfast. This place had a bathroom! The town gets through hikers on the Appalachian Trail and I wonder if that was why the food was so good, so cheap, and so much. Got eggs, pancakes, sausage, bacon and coffee for a few dollars. Felt guilty eating so much food, that was sooooo good, for so little.

Later,
Dan

 

[stuckmotor]

While making the pizza for todays lunch, I remembered the days before I even knew what they taste like. That's what brought on this thread.

There's at least one YouTube presentation on how to throw a pizza. One day, when there's a backup TV dinner in the freezer I might give it a try.

 

[dmccarty]

I have some pizza dough in the freezer... Guess I should defrost it before I forget about it, again.

YouTube has some great cooking channels. Far better than what was every on Food TV before it went down the drain with reality TV instead of how to cook.

Hmmmm, is that pizza dough in the freezer or is it dough for Scottish meat pies from a YouTube show I watched......

 

[5030]

I was maybe 12, was at a friend's house and we made it from a box kit that contained flour and a small can of sauce. I think we just put sliced cheese on it, no other toppings. Appian Way was the brand I think, and IIRC it cost 39¢. We started using the same mix at home, baked it on a cookie sheet, again with just sliced cheese for topping.
Don't think I ever had a "real" pizza until I'd left home.

I've never had grits, don't think I ever had cornbread until well into adulthood. Certainly not something my mother would have made.

You can still get the Betty Crocker box pizza. We eat them all the time. Have to buy extra cheese and pepperoni but they are still real good.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Oh my, box pizza is what we had when I was young. We just didn’t eat out.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Pizza like most of us know it is really an American dish...order pizza in Italy and you likely won't recognize it...!

Had pizza in southern Germany, not too different from here, sauce very runny.

 

[tallyho8]

I had my first pizza at 20 years of age at a Mr Pizza. It was a place that had very cheap and thin pizzas and did plenty of TV advertising claiming to have "the world's worst pizza". The best pizza I ever had was in 1978 in, of all places, Flagstaff Arizona when I was on a vacation. I don't remember the name of the place and I don't know what kind of cheese they had on it but it was the best cheese I had ever tasted on a pizza and plenty of it.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Pizza from a box.... Ellio's I think. Then finally had 'real' pizza from a place called "Luca's" .... 100x better... 6"x6" square slice of Sicilian style (I swear it was 1" thick).

 

[MossRoad]

... Appian Way was the brand I think, ...

As long as I can remember back, my mom always bought Appian Way box and doctored it up. First, she'd use two boxes at a time. She'd make the crust and bake it for about 5 minutes, remove it from the oven, then add the toppings. She'd add a can of Contadina tomato paste to the tomato sauce that came in the box, and a bunch of spices like oregano and basil, etc. She'd slather that on the half-baked crust. Then she'd add pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, green pepper and onion. And top it with the cheese and more cheese and plop on a few blobs of left over sauce. Back in the oven until it was melted and starting to brown. Pull it out, slice and serve, and, as remembered, burn the skin off the roof of your mouth because you couldn't wait for it to cool.

So that's the way we did it since the 60s until about two years ago, when they stopped making Appian Way. So we started making our crusts from scratch. Takes a bit longer, but tastes about the same to our memories.

 

[/pine]

Had pizza in southern Germany, not too different from here, sauce very runny.

When I mentioned going to Italy...I should have clarified going to non-touristy areas...i.e., where traditional local cuisine has not changed to accommodate expecting tourists...!
Personally I wouldn't order pizza in Germany unless it was at a Pizza Hut or other American chain...

 

[BravoXray]

Best pizza I ever had was from a place in the service center on the west side of the Purdue campus back in '68. My room mate and I would order a large sausage pizza, cost about $5.00 if I remember correctly. Must have had a pint of sauce, an inch thick layer of sausage, and covered with 1/2 inch of cheese and weighed 6 or 7 pounds.
It was good for 3 or 4 meals.

 

[BravoXray]

As long as I can remember back, my mom always bought Appian Way box and doctored it up. First, she'd use two boxes at a time. She'd make the crust and bake it for about 5 minutes, remove it from the oven, then add the toppings. She'd add a can of Contadina tomato paste to the tomato sauce that came in the box, and a bunch of spices like oregano and basil, etc. She'd slather that on the half-baked crust. Then she'd add pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, green pepper and onion. And top it with the cheese and more cheese and plop on a few blobs of left over sauce. Back in the oven until it was melted and starting to brown. Pull it out, slice and serve, and, as remembered, burn the skin off the roof of your mouth because you couldn't wait for it to cool.

So that's the way we did it since the 60s until about two years ago, when they stopped making Appian Way. So we started making our crusts from scratch. Takes a bit longer, but tastes about the same to our memories.

My mom would make those Appian Way pizzas too, and would add sauce, meat and cheese to them, and that made them pretty good. At least we thought so.

 

[MossRoad]

My mom would make those Appian Way pizzas too, and would add sauce, meat and cheese to them, and that made them pretty good. At least we thought so.

Was there ever any left over?