Popular Culture: The Great Pizza Divide

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A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet. A pizza by any other name would taste just as delicious. Yet today the racism faced by Chicago pizza is a testament to just how far some will go to disagree with others, not simply because they do not enjoy good food – but rather because they may be elitist. It does not matter that some refuse to call Chicago-style pizza a ‘pizza’ (McKeever, 2014), because semantics are often less important than facts.
The Great Pizza Divide came to the forefront of popular culture in 2013 when Jon Stewart infamously ranted against the style of pizza, calling it akin to tomato soup in a bread bowl. Examining a recipe for tomato soup (Oliver, n.d.), however, one finds no mention of the cheese or meat toppings often associated with Chicago style pizza (Wikipedia, n.d.a.). A number of chefs have chimed in as well, proudly claiming that Chicago pizza is simply not (McKeever, 2014). Prior to Stewart’s rant, a 2011 non-binding ruling by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia also attempted to put to rest the controversy surrounding the calling of Chicago style pizza ‘pizza’. “Real pizza is Neapolitan. It is very thin. It is crispy and chewy …show more content…

Nations have taken this loose definition of ‘pizza’ and run with it, as regional recipes for the dish have been seen in countries such as Norway, Korea and Bangladesh (Wikipedia, n.d.c.). Certainly if one can call baked bread dough covered with sweet corn, mayo, sweet potato and shrimp (Mr. Pizza, 2016) a ‘pizza’ (as they do in Korea), then certainly society can refer to Chicago style pizza in the same way. America itself has any number of seemingly valid regional pizza styles, including Bar, California, Detroit, New Haven and St. Louis, along with the debated New York and Chicago styles (Wikipedia, n.d.d.). If one is to assert that Chicago pizza is not ‘pizza’, could not the same be said of these other regions and

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