Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Pizza + Intelligence

Lately I have been loving pizza. Unfortunately Germany doesn't do carry out pizza like the US. I have had one carry out pizza here and it was horrible. Instead we typically get them at an Italian restaurant or enjoy a frozen pizza. My favorite brand is 'Wagner's La Pizzia Rusticale'.

Coincidentally Stefan was recently telling me about a new German book titled 'Generation Doof' (Generation Stupid). There was even a write up about it this past weekend in the Abendzeitung. The authors, Anne Weiss and Stefan Bonner, are worried German youngsters are stupid since they instantly think pizza when they hear 'Wagner' as opposed to King Ludwig II's inspiration Richard Wagner. Many children also believe Frankfurt is located in the middle of the Black Forest, but they can recognize the annoying Jamba 'Crazy Frog' ring tones.

What I found comical in the article were the comparisons to the US. At first they were saying that similar books had come out in the US, then the last paragraph of the article said:

"Und, noch ein kleiner Trost für uns: Die Amerikaner sind angeblich noch viel dümmer. Da denkt immerhin jeder Fünfte, dass sich die Erde um die Sonne dreht."
translating to:
"There's still a consolation for us: The Americans are even more stupid. Since every fifth person still thinks the earth revolves around the sun."

I'm not sure if they were trying to be smart rather than saying four out of five people don't realize it does, or if they simply miswrote and therefore don't look intelligent. Thankfully Stefan wasn't sure either.

So perhaps I will read this book and challenge myself with the German and understanding more of their psyche.


In other pizza related things, tonight I made a Pomodori apple dessert pizza. Pomodori's is a delicious wood fired pizza restaurant located right by the University of Cincinnati. However, since we're not anywhere near Cincinnati, I decided to make one tonight.

Delicious!

Which reminds me of the cultural differences... When Stefan first came to the US he didn't realize people don't order an entire pizza to eat themselves, and that a few slices is plenty. We were ordering pizza one night and deciding if one or two was enough for us and my house mates. He was being polite and going with the flow, but he was afraid he'd still be hungry - that is until he found how different the pizza is. I miss those naïve days, but they still make me laugh.

5 comments:

JoernandAllison said...

I love Wagner La Pizza. Joern worked for Wagner for a couple of months, during which time, the only pizza we were allowed to eat was Wagner (as per Joern's insistance).
You get used to the pizza situation here, the secret is to find a killer Italian restaurant, then you'll have trouble eating anything else :)

Oh, and to add one more thing your list on the miseducation of German kids... most kids in cities believe cows are purple. No joke, it was pubished in a study a few years ago.

Melaina25 said...

OMG, you have a recipe for Pomi's Apple pizza?!?!? SHARE PLEASE!!!!!

Melaina25 said...

Please, please post your recipe for Pomi's Apple Pizza! You can take the girl out of Cincinnati, but you can't take the Cincinnati out of the girl :)

Emily said...

Sorry about the delay... I know how important this pizza is!

My friend used to work there and he told me the 'sauce' is ricotta with a bit of apricot jam.

Here's what I did:
Bake the crust for half the time so it's slightly crisp.

Take out the crust and cover it with ricotta + apricot preserves.

Then put granny apple slices on it and top it with more apricot and a strudel topping. Finish baking according to the time on the crust or when it looks done.

For the strudel topping I mixed the following:
1/2 c flour
1/4 c oats
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
a dash of salt
nutmeg to taste
1/4 c butter
mix all of the above until it forms crumbles.

Enjoy! I hope it works for you.

Melaina25 said...

Oops didn't mean to post twice like an impatient biotch! Thank you :) :)