Four Countries with Unforgettable Pizza Memories

Searching for the familiar when living far from home can uncover a world of gastronomic adventure. Wherever Americans and their cross-cultural friends gather for a celebratory meal, a steamy, cheese-laden pizza pie can’t be far away. The following are stories from just four countries with unforgettable pizza memories.

Switzerland

The anticipated treat had my mouth watering before we left the house. I hadn’t had any pizza for many weeks. Since I lived in the land of cheese, I pictured a pizza so loaded with cheese that I’d need to take a bite before seeing the other toppings.

“Do they have pepperoni?” I said, hearing my stomach growl at the mention of the little, round red slice of spicy sausage.

“Yes, it’s on the menu. Do you want me to read the rest for you?” Anne-Lise, my native Swiss colleague, and French tutor offered.

“What else comes on the pepperoni pizza?”

“Cheese.”

I laughed, assuming she was teasing me. “Well, of course, but what else?”

“Nothing else, except the tomato sauce and crust. We don’t have tons of stuff on pizza here like in the States.”

What did it matter? My taste buds twitched just thinking about the pepperoni and thick layer of Mozzarella.

At last, the waiter set the steaming plates before us. No small, medium, large, family, and meant for a football team size circular treasure. Only one size existed—the individual pizza.

The singular option for pizza size turned out to be the first of the surprises related to that particular meal. The rest are listed here:

• No thick layer of white cheese on top of the ingredients. In Switzerland, the cheese is placed after the tomato-based pizza sauce. The customer’s chosen ingredients make up the final layer.

• Mozzarella cheese may be substituted for another cheese, at the cook’s discretion. That day, ours had the uniquely strong flavor of Swiss Gruyere.

• Pepperoni doesn’t mean the same in a Swiss restaurant. Here’s the sad scene:

“I ordered a pepperoni pizza,” I said to my Swiss colleague. “Where’s the pepperoni?”

“What do you mean?” my dining companion said. “Your pizza is covered with pepperoni!”

Instead of the little round, red sausage slices, the entire top of my pizza had thin, round slices of huge, whole bell peppers—green, red and yellow. To my chagrin, I learned a new French word that day.

France

One of the common toppings for a French pizza is tuna fish. The pizza sauce is still the tomato-based spicy spread used on all pizzas.

In the States, these unique varieties are more commonly made using a white sauce. The San Francisco Bay Area Halibut pizza uses a white sauce with chunks of potato under the fish, for example.

I tasted the French pizza, but honestly, I think a lifetime of tuna fish sandwiches and tuna-noodle casseroles spoiled my taste buds for putting the tuna atop a pizza. Definitely, a one-time experience for me.

West Africa

Every pizza is the same size, fitting in a standard dinner plate. The pizza toppings are pretty much the same in all restaurants; the variation is in the crust. Some are very thin and crispy, as long as you eat it right out of the oven. When the crust cools, the weight of the ingredients will make the crust droop until the toppings fall.

The thick crusts run the gamut from the more familiar regular pizza to a dense bread-like layer. The latter will fill you up, regardless of how scant the layers of cheese and toppings.

While there is a wide range of how much is used, the cheese is normally Mozzarella on top of the pizza. Several restaurants in Mali, with a stronger French connection, substitute Gruyere cheese for Mozzarella, putting it next to the pizza sauce.

Guinea introduced us to some interesting choices in pizzas. The capital city, Conakry, offered a pizza with onion, eggplant, zucchini, artichokes, and topped with a fried egg.

I routinely order a pizza named Queen. This version contains toppings of ham and mushrooms. If one prefers the masculine member of the royal duo, the waiter will bring a King pizza. It also has ham and mushrooms, but a fried egg crowns the center of the pizza.

Some restaurants in Conakry cater to the dietary restrictions of the dominant religious group in a unique way. Their menu boasted the following options:

• Pork ham and mushrooms

• Beef ham and mushrooms

Being completely taken aback by the notion that one could turn a piece of beef into something that tasted like pork, I ordered my Queen with beef ham. One look at my pizza and I realized I’d eaten beef ham most of my childhood. Atop my pizza sat strips of bologna, also substituted in the absence of pork ham.

In Mali’s capital city, Bamako, I enjoy the rare occasions when we splurge and dine at a real Italian pizzeria. The chef spreads a deliciously seasoned homemade red sauce over the thick, chewy crust. A generous portion of shredded Mozzarella fills the cheese layer.

One evening five years ago, I ordered my usual Queen, but struggled over the possibility of adding spicy Italian sausage balls to the topping. Finally, I elected to play it safe and skip the tiny meatballs. One can easily acquire a case of food poisoning from meats that must be kept under refrigeration. In African countries, a steady supply of electricity isn’t a given.

The waiter set the hot plates before us; all conversation stopped. The pizza looked as appetizing as it smelled.

Unable to sense if my first bite tasted a bit off, I asked one of the other ladies to have a small sample. “The tomato does taste a bit strong, but it’s probably just a different brand.”

The third member of our party said that her sauce also seemed stronger than usual. Since the ham tasted fine, we decided the pizza could be eaten. Bad choice.

In the middle of the night, the two of us became violently ill. I learned of my friend’s milder form of my distress only the following morning since we had separate lodgings.

Sparing you the all-night gory details, I’ll just say that I was about a breath away from waking up in the arms of Jesus. How thankful I am that the Lord has blessed me with a colleague who can be cool under life-threatening pressures.

The life of a foreign missionary provides a plethora of adventures many others will never experience. This blog and my other writings are intended to pull back the curtain on my career missionary life.

Most folks think the missionary puts her life on the line because she serves in a remote jungle. Now, you know the never before revealed truth: Sometimes it’s the tomato sauce.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these stories from four countries with unforgettable pizza memories. I’d be delighted if they made you smile. Are you sensing you may need to exercise caution when eating something that doesn’t taste just right to you? It’s much cheaper to buy another pizza.

Please take a moment to share any pizza stories you may have in your memory bag. I’d truly love to hear them.