Last year, London-based food writer and pizza buff Daniel Young asked me on behalf of Where Chefs Eat-publishing house Phaidon to contribute to a book on the best pizzerias in the world. Now, I knew that pizza was getting an artisanal upgrade akin to the rotisserie chicken, gourmet hamburger, haute dog and ditto hummus in America, England, Hong Kong, Berlin and even Paris. But here in Holland? I had my doubts, as I blogged last year.
The last word on the slice
My task was to assemble a group of insiders, from either Italian restaurants or in the Italian produce trade, who could bestow me with reliable insider tips for the best possible pizza in their region.
Because of the elaborateness of the book, Daniel suggested I would stick for now to Amsterdam and Rotterdam plus immediate sur-roundings.
I started selecting insiders, and soon found out that the question where to eat pizza in Holland was not as easy as one would think.
Hamburgers? Yep. Roast chicken? Sure! French fries? Hell, yes. But pizza?
But finally, I got a group of insiders together, amongst who Gianni and Gessica of the lovely Italian slow food store Casa del Gusto in Amsterdam.
And maybe the Dutch chapter isn’t the most elaborate one. Yet. But the pizza addresses mentioned by the insiders are each little gems that need to be cherished.
And it will be thanks to books like this, that the artisanal pizza fever will soon hit unknown woodoven temperatures in the Netherlands too.
Daniel Young; Where To Eat Pizza – The expert’s guide to the best pizza places in the world; Phaidon; ISBN 978-0-7148-7116-5.
© Marjan Ippel, Talkin’ Food® 2016
Read also: Ippel is Talkin’ Food® in English.