Monday, August 16, 2010

A Shift in Pizza Culture

Five days after we first moved to South Africa, we were more than a little culture shocked and went to a pizza parlour for something "known." As it turned out, the pizza toppings included bananas, avocados, mince, anchovies and chicken livers. So much for seeking comfort food!

As time went on, I began to see South African pizzas as something entirely different than American pizzas. When I stopped expecting them to be like they were "back home," I began to appreciate them for what they were - different, but still good.

We've been in South Africa for nearly three years now, and last night we had pizza again. The toppings on our pizza were avocado, peppadew, kalamata olives, brinjals (eggplant), and mushrooms. After the first bite, I sighed a happy little sigh and said, "You know, I think I like South African pizzas better than American pizzas."

We've come a long way in three years.

3 comments:

C.G. Koens said...

Again, this made me chuckle and identify! It was similar when we arrived in SA and some SA friends picked us up at the airport and told us they were going to get "big" pizzas for dinner. We should see the size of these pizzas - we would be amazed! Well, that part was true. Slightly larger than a personal pizza in the States and considered "huge" was a surprise to us. :-) But after a while in Lesotho we thought that living it up on our anniversary included ordering Scooters pizza and getting it delivered!! It's fun to watch yourself change. I'm certainly enjoying your blog. :-)

Anonymous said...

I can't help to smile...I miss SA pizza's so much! Here in Korea pizza toppings include sweet potatoe, sweetcorn, peas and so on and it's usually sweet...I hate the sweetpotatoe mouse they put in the crust çause it's often mistaken for cheese!

Anna said...

Oh no. Not sweet potato and corn! Although... I guess you could get used to it and even learn to like it.

What are you doing in South Korea? I tried to read your blog maar my Afrikaans is verskriklik. Ek leer nog. :)