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

[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?