Naples chefs take sides in the ultra pizza wars

Level 1

Elementary

1 Warmer
Are there any traditional or speciality foods or dishes where you live? What Italian dishes do you know?

2 Find the information

Scan the article to find: 1. two traditional Neapolitan pizzas ______________________________________ _______________________________________ 2. a gourmet pizza maker ______________________________________ 3. a restaurant in Rome ______________________________________ 4. two traditional pizza makers ______________________________________ _______________________________________ 5. a food expert ______________________________________

3 Key words
a. Match the key words from the article with the definitions below. The paragraph numbers have been given to help you. gourmet experiment innovative crust traditionalists

1. test a new idea, method or activity to find out what the result will be _________________________ (para 1) 2. describing food that is of a very high quality _________________________ (para 1) 3. someone who wants to keep ideas or methods the way that they have always been _________________________ (para 2) 4. inventing or using new ideas _________________________ (para 2) 5. the hard, brown part at the edge of a pizza _________________________ (para 4) base dough ingredients baked local

6. a mixture of flour, water, oil, etc. that is baked to make the bottom of a pizza _________________________ (para 4) 7. the foods or liquids that you use to make a particular meal _________________________ (para 6) 8. cooked in an oven _________________________ (para 13) 9. the bottom part of the pizza _________________________ (para 13) 10. from the area where you live _________________________ (para 14) b. Answer the following questions about pronunciation. 1. Which key word has a silent t? 2. How do you say dough? 3. Where is the stress in ingredients?
Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2012 NEWS LESSONS / Naples chefs take sides in the ultra pizza wars / Elementary
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Naples chefs take sides in the ultra pizza wars

Level 1

Elementary
and basil pizza which give the white, red and green of the Italian flag after Margherita of Savoy. 8 I am against these gourmet pizzas a pizza restaurant must be quick and cheap and make at least 400 pizzas a night, said Antonio Starita, 70, whose grandfather opened the restaurant in 1901. I have seen people use cream, and it doesnt get worse than that, he added, while making pizza dough.

Naples chefs take sides in the ultra pizza wars

Tom Kington 20 May, 2012 1 Enzo Coccia discusses his spring pizza with lots of asparagus, buffalo mozzarella, sheeps cheese, lard and beans. I just want to experiment, says the maker of gourmet or ultra pizzas. 2 The fashion for ultra pizzas has spread across Italy. But as Coccia is always told, this is Naples, the home of the tomato and mozzarella margherita. La Notizia, Coccias restaurant, opened in 2010. Many traditionalists have expressed their dislike of Coccias combination of salt cod and mozzarella, his use of figs and pesto and his 25 truffle oil pizza. His innovative pizzas have divided opinion in the city. 3 There is no such thing as gourmet pizza. We are not OK with this, said Sergio Miccu, head of the Neapolitan Association of Pizza Makers, which got the EU to protect the margherita and another Neapolitan standard pizza, the tomato, garlic and oregano marinara. 4 Pizza began as a food for poor people and any complicated pizza loses its identity, he added. To prove his point, Miccu listed the things that make up the perfect margherita: a 33cm diameter, 23cm high crust, San Marzano tomatoes, cows milk mozzarella from the region of Campania and olive oil, all cooked in a wood oven after the dough has risen for nine hours. 5 But pizza makers all across Italy want to do something different. They are copying a Rome restaurant, La Gatta Mangiona, which has made duck and asparagus, and steamed chestnut and mushroom pizzas. 6 In a country that normally uses simple ingredients and traditional recipes, pizza makers are now trying stilton and port pizzas, as well as shrimp, saffron and liquorice pizzas. 7 What makes Coccia different is that he works in Naples, where pizza was first made. In 1889, a pizza maker named his new mozzarella, tomato
Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2012

10 At Di Matteo on Via Dei Tribunali in the middle of Naples, 600 pizzas are served a day and a margherita costs 3. The owner, Salvatore di Matteo, does not accept ultra-pizzas. For me, he said, gourmet means talking about what you eat. 11 A third of Di Matteos business is folded and fried pizzas typically stuffed with ricotta, provola cheese and cicoli, a local type of pancetta. For Neapolitans, he said, it is even more traditional than the margherita. Fried pizza was more popular than oven-baked pizza in Naples until the 1950s. It needs good oil and a pizza maker who knows the oils temperature just by looking at it, he said. 12 For food expert Davide Paolini, the new gourmet pizzas can be great, but its no longer pizza. 13 Although his ingredients may be unusual, many pizza makers agree that Coccia makes light, perfectly baked pizza bases. 14 At a second restaurant on the same street Coccias menu is strictly traditional. As for the ingredients at his gourmet restaurant, some may be unusual but all are local. 15 I did a fried pizza with mussels and pancetta based on my grandmothers recipe of mussels and pancetta, dipped in egg and breadcrumbs then fried, he said. If I am innovative, it is only because I know the traditions.
Guardian News & Media 2011 First published in The Observer, 20/05/12
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NEWS LESSONS / Naples chefs take sides in the ultra pizza wars / Elementary

Naples chefs take sides in the ultra pizza wars

Level 1

Elementary

4 Comprehension check
Are these statements true (T) or false (F) according to the information in the article? Correct any that are false. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Napless most famous pizza is named after Margherita of Savoy. Pizzas were originally food for people with little money. Ultra pizza is another name for a very big pizza. Enzo Coccia makes excellent pizza bases. Enzo Coccia only uses traditional ingredients on his gourmet pizzas. Antonio Starita is the owner of a new gourmet pizza restaurant in Naples. Folded and fried pizzas are a speciality of Naples. The colours of the margherita pizza symbolize the flag of Naples.

5 Ingredients
Find all the pizza ingredients mentioned in the article, decide whether they are part of traditional or non-traditional pizzas (or both) and write them into the corresponding parts of the circles.

non-traditional

both

traditional

6 Perfect pizzas
Read the recipe for the perfect margherita in paragraph 4 and then: 1. describe your perfect pizza. 2. think of four new gourmet pizzas and give them names.

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Naples chefs take sides in the ultra pizza wars

Level 1 KEY

Elementary

2 Find the information

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. margherita, marinara Enzo Coccia La Gatta Mangiona Antonio Starita, Salvatore di Matteo Davide Paolini

5 Ingredients
Teachers note: There may be an element of disagreement in this task, which could lead to some interesting discussions amongst the students. Traditional ingredients tomato, garlic, oregano, olive oil, basil, ricotta, provola cheese, cicoli (a kind of pancetta) Non-traditional ingredients asparagus, buffalo mozzarella, sheeps cheese, lard, beans, salt cod, figs, pesto, truffle oil, duck, steamed chestnut, mushrooms, stilton, port, shrimp, saffron, liquorice, cream, mussels, egg, breadcrumbs Both cows milk mozzarella, flour, pancetta

3 Key words
a. 1. experiment 2. gourmet 3. traditionalists 4. innovative 5. crust 6. dough 7. ingredients 8. baked 9. base 10. local b. Teachers note: Have the students look at an online dictionary that provides pronunciation audio files as well as phonetic script such as http://www.macmillandictionary.com. 1. gourmet /me/ 2. /d/ 3. on the second syllable

6 Perfect pizzas
Teachers note: Suggest to the students that they use the ingredients from task 5 as well as speciality foods from their area to invent their gourmet pizzas. You can turn the task into a competition and have groups present their ideas to the class, then vote for the best ideas.

4 Comprehension check
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. T T F Ultra pizza is a pizza with non-traditional toppings. T F Enzo Coccia uses non-traditional ingredients on his gourmet pizzas. 6. F Antonio Starita manages a traditional pizza restaurant. 7. T 8. F The colours of the margherita pizza symbolize the flag of Italy.
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NEWS LESSONS / Naples chefs take sides in the ultra pizza wars / Elementary

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