The Great Pizza Wars: Part 1

The dialog about what foods Sri Chinmoy likes best inspired me
to post this series of stories, collectively called "The Great Pizza Wars" They
contain a bit of history and a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy...
 

The Great Pizza
Wars (dedicated to my dearest friend Sunil)
The precise manner in which the Great Pizza Wars began, I
can not exactly say. I can only say that these wars have been bloody and have
lasted for years and Sri Chinmoy has found himself in the middle of them. The
wars began shortly after my becoming a student in 1971 in New York. I had one
year of school left at Northwestern University. It was then, for the first time,
I had the experience of Chicago deep pan pizza. Now I must confess that up until
this point, like my New York brethren, I was completely unliberated with regards
to pizza. You see, New Yorkers are extremely attached to their pizza and
anything that is a departure from New York pizza simply isn’t pizza. Somehow,
“Sicilian style” has successfully made its way into the New York pizza culture,
but this is an aberration of sorts.
Let the world know that
Chicago has the highest consumption
of pizza per capita in the world. (Please note, this is a statistic which has
Priyadarshan is shock! He claims, “Apparently your world does not include
Italy!”) In
Chicago, there are 3 styles of pizza…thin crust, deep dish or “pan” and finally
stuffed pizza. New York pizza would be considered a variety of thin crust. Deep
dish is the signature pizza of Chicago. Sicilian pizza might be compared to deep
dish, but it is a pathetic imitation. Stuffed pizza stands on its own. Stuffed
pizza is about 1.5-2 inches thick. There is a bottom crust, then filling
including cheese, then a top crust over which the sauce and fresh tomatoes and
herbs are placed.
My favorite is deep dish although I confess that as I’ve
gotten older, I’ve rediscovered the lightness of thin crust. I also went through
my stuffed pizza phase. Let me also say that I love New York pizza. But I
unequivocally stand by my assertion that if forced to choose one, Chicago deep
dish pizza is far, far superior to New York pizza.
And so the wars began.
 
“What, no pizza?”
Upon returning to New York after completion of my
schooling in Chicago, somehow the word went around that I preferred Chicago
pizza to New York pizza. Apparently this was a source of consternation to many
New Yorkers. My suspicion is that it actually struck at the heart of their
faith. And somehow, someway this whole debate made it to Sri Chinmoy. It was
perhaps in 1982 or so when I was in New
York for my birthday, I arranged to provide Dunken
Donuts for Prasad. Out of the blue, Sri Chinmoy said, “What, you could not bring
pizza?” So be it.
 
That night I had 13 stuffed pizzas flown in from
Chicago. The function went extra
late in anticipation of the event. The pizza arrived, was reheated at Annam
Brahma and served to mixed reviews. “It’s good, but it’s not pizza!” came the
cries. Some liked it, some didn’t. Some secretly came to tell me they liked it
much better, but they were afraid, very afraid. Sri Chinmoy was publicly
non-committal but privately he told me he liked it better. I suspect privately
he told the New Yorker’s he liked theirs better.
Ever since then, I have been forever linked with pizza
and in fact pizza has played a large and fun role in many interesting
experiences.