Alan Richman on Pizza

This morning I was reading Fork it Over, Alan Richman’s collected food articles. I came across a description of his experiences eating pizza in Naples, the home of modern pizza, including Pizza Margherita. Richman, who is a very funny writer, discovers that all the pizzas he is served are awash in a puddle in the middle of the pie. It accumulates, he decides, from the olive oil, the liquid in the fresh mozzarella, and the water in the tomatoes. Every Neapolitan he meets dips their crust in the center, but Alan imagines little children sailing boats through the puddle. So much for reverential awe towards the birthplace of the sacred slice.