North Americans feared and misunderstood pizza in the 1950s

When I lived in St. Louis and SE Missouri in my late teens and early 20s, I used to love Imo’s pizza. I don’t know if their cheese is based on any kind of natural substance, there’s nothing that’s creamy and gooey like provel cheese.

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Provel cheese is one of the most specifically local food ingredients known to humankind!

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Although I personally like other styles more, Imo’s cracker crust and gooey cheese are their own thing, and I never minded when it showed up at a party.

I’d certainly enjoy a visit to pi if I’m ever back in the ‘Lou.

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Are pizza threads the new iron cookware / knives threads?

  • Yes.
  • No.
  • Define “pizza”.
  • No. Dear God, no.
  • Only if we also discuss seasoning.
  • Only if we also discuss which knives to use to cut them, and how to keep those sharp.
  • Can I have fries with that?

0 voters

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Your mention of fajitas reminded me of a funny thing I noticed in Cancun while on honeymoon in 1990… many restaurants in town (more local than the chains on hotel strips) featured “T-Boone” steak. I saw that misspelling everywhere.

My guess was the marketing board put out a “What Tourists Like to Eat” with “T-Bone” misspelt. Haven’t been back, so no idea if it’s been corrected. We should go back for our 50th and check.

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It might be in here:

(View list on YouTube.)

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Different one, but also hilarious! I haven’t heard one of these that doesn’t make me laugh to tears

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Does it have anything to do with Dave being stuck in an elevator or is that a different story?

Related: Stuart McLean was a teacher at the school I went to. A whole bunch of my friends learned radio broadcasting from him (maybe even my wife, although I can’t remember and we didn’t know each other all that well back then).

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I’m pretty sure the one posted above that I was replying to includes the elevator scene, with the turkey. I’d forgotten about that whole part. :joy:
The fruitcake story is buried in the Christmas Presents episode.

Wow! I usually adhere to the “don’t meet your heroes” mindset, having had a couple disappointing encounters. But, Stuart…seems like he might’ve been one of the rare exceptions to that rule.

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I’m not sure he was the greatest teacher (he was heavy into Vinyl Cafe at the time and was spread pretty thin). From what I’ve heard from friends who’ve been on his show, he was a great guy.

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That plays a part, but American-invented dishes still generally don’t go back before the 19th century (at the latest), and often no further back than the 1950s, and food traditions that immigrants brought over often were lost, presumably due to a dearth of relevant ingredients, and the few surviving adapted forms of dishes are often unrecognizable (although part of that may be because back in the originating country, the dishes might have been abandoned or altered as well). Ironically, the issue is even more pronounced with Native American food. “Native American frybread” that has a significant place in US indigenous culture, is a modern invention that came out of staples handed out by the US government and was popularized in the 20th century - food traditions were lost to the cultural genocide of the Indian schools and forcible relocations that took people to places with unfamiliar local ingredients.

And it was an ancient Roman import to England, first. Ancient Roman dishes sneak their way, here and there, into various cuisines all around the world…

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I saw T-Boone and thought D. Boon of the Minutemen. To cover my ass, linguistically, D and T are closely related.

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The industrial cities, particularly the Great Lakes ones, have a very different history of immigration and food development than the outlying areas of the same states. Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and even Kansas City all have rich long established Italian communities going back to before the turn of the 20th century. Both Chicago Deep Dish and Detroit style pizza were firmly established before the 50s. Ohio Valley style started to spread in the late 40s and Quad Cities style was born in the 50s. The modern hand cranked pasta machine was invented in Cleveland. Cities and rural areas will frequently have very different food and other cultural experiences.

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3 posts were split to a new topic: Urban vs rural culture

The major culinary difference I have found between urban and rural food offerings within the same area is how much less nutritious the offerings are and how much less care is taken with regard to food safety in more rural areas. Doesn’t matter which ethnicity the cuisine happens to come from.

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(pleasepleasepleaseplease god let it be pupusas)

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Do they deep fry their pizza? That’s the give away

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This guy?

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Oh god, I had one of those pizzas when I was a kid. Ick.

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Sneak? Surely it’s a cuisine that arrives in well-armed cohorts, along paved roads?

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