On Wednesday 17 October, the Year 8 Italian students were given the experience of tasting authentic wood fired pizza made by Vincenzo and Rosalbo Velletri. The chefs opened with a brief history of Italian pizza, explaining how it started as a very simple dish, made by peasants as substantial food to fill them up. The traditional ingredients were flour, water, yeast, tomatoes, cheese and sometimes basil. This pizza is now widely known as Margherita pizza and is one of the most well known pizzas around. Vincenzo went on to explain about how when the pizza was taken to the Americas by Italian traders, it was westernised resulting in all the different pizzas we now get. However, this excursion took us back to the original, simple Margherita pizza.
Following this introduction, the chefs commenced the making of the pizzas. They started by rolling and spreading the dough balls, they then applied the fresh tomato sauce and sprinkled the thin layer of cheese on top. After the pizzas had spent a short time in the wood fire oven, they were presented in front of us and and the delicious scent had our mouths watering. In a nutshell, the pizzas were fluffy, light, delicious and tasted very authentic. By the satisfied looks on every student’s face and the pleading for a second serving, it was obvious that everyone had enjoyed it very much.
I can confidently say that every student appreciated the experience very much and will remember it as a great incursion. They were able to learn something new about a very popular dish and taste a great, authentic one made the way a pizza should be.
