Italians are crazy for pizza and get angry when someone messes with it. They get especially riled if anyone alters the basic ingredients, or the way it is served.
The Pizza Margherita was first created in the 1850s in the southern city of Bari, and it was named in honour of the queen. And now a pizzeria in that same city recently made a move that baffled and outraged many Italians.
The restaurant decided to charge 50 cents extra just to add black pepper, which is regarded as a basic ingredient of traditional pizza, just as much as the water and flour that’s used to make the dough. It wasn’t a great addition to the price – but even so, the decision caused an outcry.
Italians are used to the idea that when you order and pay for a pizza, the price already includes the cost of each basic ingredient that is a key part of the recipe.
“The runner must have been out of his mind. I refused to pay, and walked out of the pizzeria, shocked,” said Gianni, a local artisan who tried to order in the pizzeria in question.
Gianni had often bought pizza there and there was no extra charge for black pepper. Like him, many other locals in Bari were stunned, and some even felt ashamed at this sneaky new charge, especially when they learned that the news had been picked up by the media.
It’s not really about the money, they said, but the symbolic gesture of the runner charging extra fees for ingredients in the food. The whole thing goes completely against the pizza tradition, particularly in Puglia. And pizza tradition is strong.
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It would be like going to a tavern in Rome, ordering a plate of Pasta Carbonara and being told that you need to pay more for the egg that goes into the sauce. It would be outrageous, almost blasphemous. Romans would probably call the police. Word would spread fast, forcing the owner to shut down his establishment.
In Puglia, locals are even more protective of their native pizza, and strongly believe it was them, the pugliesi, rather than the napoletani, who historically gave birth to it.
“I’m furious, I couldn’t believe it. We’re not foreigners, we’re Italian,” said Paolo, a bar tender in Bari’s old district.
“If you go to the US or the UK, every extra ingredient you want – from pizza cheese to cappuccino chocolate powder and ice-cream toppings – is paid double, particularly if you want more quantity of it. But here in Italy – in Puglia – that’s a sin against tradition.”
Sadly, charging extra fees for ingredients is happening more throughout Italy now. I’ve eaten at several restaurants that charge more for pizza with mozzarella made with tastier buffalo milk instead or plain cow’s milk mozzarella, or if you ask for more cherry tomatoes, basil or tuna.
And the worst thing is that these extra fees are not only applied to the ingredients, but also to the “special” way a food is served to clients.
One notorious pastry shop in the north of Italy charges €1 if a client asks to have his morning brioche cut in half, with double pistachio or Nutella filling, to be eaten on a plate with a knife and fork.
It looks as if globalised food trends have invaded Italy, meaning that our eating habits and traditions are being ravaged. In future I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that customers are being charged extra just to add a spoonful of sugar to their coffee.
Luckily for me, I like my espresso shot straight – strong and bitter.
Silvia Marchetti is a Rome-based freelance reporter
