Mitch Samples

Happy Cary Downtown Farmers Market to you. I can’t be at the market this weekend as work is taking me to Chicago. This has me thinking, though, about regional specific foods.  Foods, growing up in the Chicagoland area that I remember fondly.  There is the world famous Italian Beef, best eaten while wearing a bib to protect your shirt from its luscious decadence.  Next is the Chicago style hot dog, dragged thought the garden, as they say.  Lastly, Chicago style pizza, which, believe it or no comes in two forms: thin and crispy cut into squares, or the ever-controversial deep-dish pizza. Honestly, I prefer the thin and crispy, it was my first pizza experience, and as such really defined my pizza worldview and concept of what real pizza is.  Some things will never be that good again, as they say.

Positive memories of food are important for our growth and well-being.  As a nation, we spend too much time regretting our food choices and feeling guilty about what we eat.  I will admit we have an awful lot of opportunity to make bad food choices, but there is an equal opportunity to make good choices.  This is not a soapbox speech about food choice though.  I am more interested in the emotional impact of those choices.  I recently read a survey asking people from various countries what they thought of when they were shown different pictures of food.  One picture was of a chocolate cake, and most of the people from outside the US responded with “celebration”, most of the Americans responded with “guilt”.  Now granted, chocolate cake may not be the best choice of food, but piling guilt onto it can only make it worse.  Now we have empty calories plus emotional trauma, a double whammy. Just as the positive memories of regional specialties from my youth bring me fond and celebratory thoughts, we need to accept that there is a time and place for everything.  We should strive to make good and healthy food choices more frequently, but not regret the occasional letting go. When we can make those good choices, guilt free and with celebration in our hearts we are truly blessed and we will be healthier for it.

So, let’s make a good and healthy food choice.  Let’s make a pizza.

Pizza can be a great food but most people wouldn’t think about making it at home on school night because it is seen as complicated and time consuming, what with the dough and the sauce and all that work.  Here is what I recommend; all together, you are looking at about 20 to 25 minutes prep and cook time.