Food: Vegetables From Lucania In the Pizza

Even turnips, beet and rocket are ingredients of the “pizza dei sassi” that was the most interesting novelty of the first international championship of quality pizza, organized by the Association of pizza-chefs from Lucania. Vegetables, together with littletomatoes, mushrooms and sausages from Basilicata, mozzarella (kind of Italian cheese used for cooking) and other traditional ingredients like the olive oil, conquered the most of the 150 pizza-chefs (two women among them) who were preparing several kinds of pizza. There were several categories: “Neapolitan pizza, guaranteed territorial speciality”(STG), “classic pizza”, “glutinefree”, “pizza dei sassi” and “pizza measured into meters”. The jury,with Alfredo Foliero (President of the European Union of traditional pizza-chefs and restaurateurs) as chairman, rewarded the best products taking into consideration their taste, cooking,and quality. The competitors needed a van full of foodstuff: four quintals flour, four of tomatoes, two of mozzarella and other ingredients. There were also some novelties as the “green”pasta, a mixture of pasta and vegetables; the biggest pizza(four-meter-long) and pasta shaped in the form of the famous “sassi” from Matera. Pasquale Lieto(president of the Italian Union of pizza- chefs) reckoned that the pizza from Lucania is one of the most interesting kinds of mediterranean food.