Shopping for Pizza

[rain_gryphon]

So, 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.

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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?

Comments

[murakozi.livejournal.com]

"Dr. Oetker's Ristorante" sounds like some long film, subtitled in French or Italian, that you'd see at a film festival. Either that or the title of an old Hammer film in which Dr. Oetker secretly kills people and serves them as pizza toppings.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Either that or the title of an old Hammer film in which Dr. Oetker secretly kills people and serves them as pizza toppings.

Oh geez, yes! I love Hammer films! I can so see the constables sitting around the station, enjoying the pizzas that public-spirited Dr. Oetker sent over, speculating about the whereabouts of the missing citizenry...

[murakozi.livejournal.com]

With Christopher Lee as Dr Oetker. Now if only Peter Cushing was still alive.

[loganberrybunny.livejournal.com]

I'm not a huge pizza fan -- I might have half a dozen in a year -- so take this with a pinch of salt. But on the whole, pre-packed pizzas are indeed generally seen as Italian-American things. "Goodfellas" is the brand I'd probably name first if was asked for a pizza you'd be likely to find in Tesco. Pizza delivery companies also tend to either be US companies (Domino's and Papa Johns are both common) or to have vaguely Italian names anyway. A lot of Americans say our pizzas are a pale imitation of the real thing, though not as bad as our Mexican food.

Dr. Oetker is a German company, though it doesn't seem to sell very much over hereapart from pizzas and some condiments. It seems a slightly strange name for a pizza brand to me as well.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Well, frozen pizza is generally a pale imitation of the real thing, hence my specification that Freschetta was an excellent frozen pizza. Papa John's is pretty good, assuming they make yours the same way they do ours, but nothing really measures up once you've had pizza from a proper New York pizzeria. That's just completely different than anything else, at least in part because of how they cook it (ludicrously hot oven, and cooked by the slice).

[loganberrybunny.livejournal.com]

frozen pizza is generally a pale imitation of the real thing

That's true, but it seems less inspired than some comparable foods. Frozen lasagne* for example is usually pretty good; certainly I like it more than I like frozen pizza. The only pizzas I've truly loved have been made to order in Italian restaurants. (As far as I know, there are no true New York-style pizzerias anywhere near me, though there may be something in London.)

* Only rarely "lasagna" in BrEng.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

As far as I know, there are no true New York-style pizzerias anywhere near me

I'd be surprised. Even here, you just don't see them outside of the New York/New Jersey area. IIRC, Porsupah found one near Los Angeles once, but that was about it.

[gedrean.livejournal.com]

What is a Tesco? And are you out of the states? I was unaware, for how long?

I prefer Freschetta or Digi's, though on occasion I'll go for Red Baron, they have adequate quality but overall Freschetta's toppings taste better, and Digi's crust is one of the best in frozen pizzas.

Honestly, though, the off brand Meijer's pizzas for the self-rising crust come out pretty damn good at a reasonable compromise in price between the $3 range of RB and the $7 of F/D's.

EDIT: Ahhh, re-reading your post I misunderstood, you haven't left the states you were just comparing.

EDIT2: I'm betting the Weasel is GE, their prices are always significantly higher than their competitors it seems.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Dude - I've only referred to GE as 'the Weasel' for about a billion years, and in your presence at that :) How are you? I haven't seen you in a long time.