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Shopping for Pizza
Mar. 12th, 2013 10:40 pmSo, the other day after eating that remarkably good frozen pizza, it fell to me to wonder what sorts of frozen pizza one could eat in Britain. I recall a colleague back in the late 80s telling me how difficult it was to find a pizza parlour on a trip to England, although I imagined that would have changed by now. At any rate, a bit of googling found me My Supermarket, a price comparison site for British chains.
They haven't got Freschetta, or any other brand I recognized, but there's a good variety from which to choose. The toppings are about the same as you'd expect here. The brand that caught my eye, for some reason, was "Dr. Oetker's Ristorante". The name sounds Dutch to me, which makes it oddly exotic compared to the usual Italian-named pizzas*, and the packaging for some reason really pleases me. I knew that if I ever went frozen pizza shopping in England, I'd want a Dr. Oetker's. Remarkably, tonight when I went to the store, one end of the pizza case is now filled with Dr. Oetker's Ristorante pizzas! I feel absurdly favoured by fate. This was one of those minor, weird desires, so passing that I probably wouldn't even have spent time brooding over it (one of my failings), yet suddenly here's a big selection of exactly what I wanted, in the identical pakckaging even!
I got Formaggi & Pomodori, which looks like a good simple pizza, although it's not listed on the Tesco page. I'm not eating it tonight, but I'll report when I do.
Tesco sells Dr. Oetker's for £2.78, which would be $4.14 here, although they don't list the particular variety that I got - all of the others on that page were available, as well as a few not listed. The Weasel sells them for $7 each, although they always have been somewhat pricier than other stores.
*****
Intriguingly, a few weeks ago the Gigantic Weasel moved Bisto out of the 'British Foods' section, and into the general instant gravies area. Dr. Oetker's was also with the regular frozen pizzas.
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* Most American pizzas sport Italian or faux-Italian names, some verging on the ridiculous. The two major exceptions both have a big market share - 'Red Baron', and 'Tombstone'. Red Baron pizza is, I think, the old Kraft Frozen Pizza rebranded (and a tolerably good pizza), and features a picture of the Red Baron and (sometimes) his plane on the box. Exactly what the Red Baron has to do with pizza has never really been clear. Tombstone pizza, also an adequate pizza, seems to be named after Tombstone, Arizona, and was I think originally a regional brand from Tombstone. It's also a Kraft product.
It interests me as well that some of the British pizzas have American names - 'Chicago Town' and 'Goodfellas' prominent among them. Is pizza perceived as an American food there, then?
They haven't got Freschetta, or any other brand I recognized, but there's a good variety from which to choose. The toppings are about the same as you'd expect here. The brand that caught my eye, for some reason, was "Dr. Oetker's Ristorante". The name sounds Dutch to me, which makes it oddly exotic compared to the usual Italian-named pizzas*, and the packaging for some reason really pleases me. I knew that if I ever went frozen pizza shopping in England, I'd want a Dr. Oetker's. Remarkably, tonight when I went to the store, one end of the pizza case is now filled with Dr. Oetker's Ristorante pizzas! I feel absurdly favoured by fate. This was one of those minor, weird desires, so passing that I probably wouldn't even have spent time brooding over it (one of my failings), yet suddenly here's a big selection of exactly what I wanted, in the identical pakckaging even!
I got Formaggi & Pomodori, which looks like a good simple pizza, although it's not listed on the Tesco page. I'm not eating it tonight, but I'll report when I do.
Tesco sells Dr. Oetker's for £2.78, which would be $4.14 here, although they don't list the particular variety that I got - all of the others on that page were available, as well as a few not listed. The Weasel sells them for $7 each, although they always have been somewhat pricier than other stores.
*****
Intriguingly, a few weeks ago the Gigantic Weasel moved Bisto out of the 'British Foods' section, and into the general instant gravies area. Dr. Oetker's was also with the regular frozen pizzas.
*****
* Most American pizzas sport Italian or faux-Italian names, some verging on the ridiculous. The two major exceptions both have a big market share - 'Red Baron', and 'Tombstone'. Red Baron pizza is, I think, the old Kraft Frozen Pizza rebranded (and a tolerably good pizza), and features a picture of the Red Baron and (sometimes) his plane on the box. Exactly what the Red Baron has to do with pizza has never really been clear. Tombstone pizza, also an adequate pizza, seems to be named after Tombstone, Arizona, and was I think originally a regional brand from Tombstone. It's also a Kraft product.
It interests me as well that some of the British pizzas have American names - 'Chicago Town' and 'Goodfellas' prominent among them. Is pizza perceived as an American food there, then?
