International Flavor...

Does anyone remember the first time they had a slice of pizza?  Unless you count "french" fries or "french" toast ( and I don't!)  I'm pretty sure that pizza was the first international flavor most of us tasted.  Back in the 50's and 60's, unless you were lived in an Italian home, pizza was pretty exotic, wasn't it?  Certainly, not something that we dined on at our family dinner tables on a regular basis.

My first taste of the gooey stuff was from a Pasquale's, one of the first pizza chains in Cincinnati.  We were at my grandparents' home and my aunt, who was a bit of an eccentric, ordered a "pizza pie". We all tried it.... Some liked it a lot and some, not so much.

I remember, as a young girl, making Chef Boyardee cheese pizzas... That was a new product that came from a box.  It supposedly contained everything you needed to make your own tasty pizza at home....not even CLOSE in flavor to my first taste of pizza!    It was a  good alternative, though, to the fish and the grilled cheese we ate in the days when Catholics refrained from eating meat on Fridays...so Chef Boyardee it was!

Look how far we've come!  Neighborhood pizza parlors, pizza chains, pizza delivery ...  Our eating habits and our family lives were forever changed....by pizza.  Many probably can't remember a world without pizza.  But I can.

I got to thinking of all this, not because I was chomping down on a pizza, but because I needed chorizo sausage for a Mexican dish I was making.   At the store, it amazed me all the different ethnic foods that are available now.   Our country became a melting pot for so many cultures and they all brought their cuisine and flavors along with them...and our neighborhoods and grocery store aisles will never be the same!   Restaurants that serve exotic fare are the norm now.  My spice rack includes spices I'm pretty sure my Mom never heard of.

Our world has certainly gotten smaller and our menus reflect that.  Italian, German, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Mexican, and more...all for the taking.

My comfort foods are still the standards, like meatloaf or a good pot roast or a tasty chicken dish.  But it sure is nice to have expanded our repertoire, both at home and in dining out.  And to think it all started with a pizza...