Pizza has always been my blue food. In all shapes and sizes. In every form.

As a child we relished the local style pizza. A thick 8” base with pizza sauce and salty Amul cheese. I remember crying every time my older siblings were quicker than me in taking a bite. Once we grew older and I was old enough to be taken to fine dining restaurants everything changed.

My first experience of a pizza as I know it today was at Trats, Tarttoria. Thin crust pizzas and mozzarella. It tasted nothing like I used to have before and a whole new world opened up. I remember getting the pizza treat after a dentist appointment and  I guess I never stopped craving for that taste after a bad day.

As we grew older we were introduced to still more varieties – the wood burn pizza, the chicago style pizza, the home delivery style pizza and yes, the local style pizza. During school, pizza was the cheapest option for a birthday treat and we frequented this place called Hot Breads. It had a medium, crisp base cheese pizza.

The phase of going to Fillers was a reward for a good swim instead of idling around in the pool. And then came the Dominos deep dish cheese pizza with extra cheese for every bad day. For exams, when you had a fight with your best friend or a minor breakup.

Then came the every Saturday catching up with a friend at my all-time favourite pizzeria, Fire and Ice with a Fungi and a lemon iced tea and a long, long conversation.

30 years of age I can literally list my favourite kinds of pizza all across the city. Some local, some Tuscan but all very, very good at beating the blues 🙂