1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:05,559
You know, when it comes to
having a slice, probably the most important

2
00:00:05,639 --> 00:00:11,599
thing is the crust. Yeah,
the crust. It's gotta be thin,

3
00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:17,320
but not so thin that you can't
pick up a slice with one hand.

4
00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:27,640
For New Yorkers, it's gotta be
just right. Let's discuss. Welcome to

5
00:00:27,679 --> 00:00:32,759
another Happy English podcast, coming to
you from New York City. And here's

6
00:00:32,799 --> 00:00:37,399
your English teacher, Michael. All
right, thank you John, and thanks

7
00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:44,000
everyone. It's Michael here from Happy
English and I help people speak English better.

8
00:00:44,439 --> 00:00:51,560
And this is Happy English Podcast,
Episode six eighty seven. New York

9
00:00:51,719 --> 00:00:56,759
Pizza. When I was living abroad, the one thing that I really missed

10
00:00:56,799 --> 00:01:02,640
from New York is pizza. Pizza
is such an important part of the culture

11
00:01:02,679 --> 00:01:08,840
here that I thought we could spend
some time today talking about this Italian import.

12
00:01:10,719 --> 00:01:15,799
Let's dive in. First of all, pizza came from Naples, you

13
00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:22,000
know, Naples in Italy, And
like most imports, there were changes and

14
00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:30,120
adaptations made basically to fit the local
people's tastes and the ingredients that were readily

15
00:01:30,159 --> 00:01:37,280
available at the time. The first
New York pizzerias and their pizza chefs had

16
00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:42,400
to come up with a way to
make their Italian creations work in the Big

17
00:01:42,439 --> 00:01:49,480
Apple, and I think here's how
it went. Neapolitan pizza became New York

18
00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:55,799
pizza with some particular differences, And
the most obvious one is the size.

19
00:01:56,599 --> 00:02:04,359
So a Neapolitan pizza should be about
thirty five centimeters or thirteen inches, but

20
00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:12,319
these days a New York pizza is
about forty six centimeters or roughly eighteen inches.

21
00:02:13,159 --> 00:02:16,840
It seems like when pizza first came
to New York, the only American

22
00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:22,599
food that they could compare it to
was a pie. You know, pie

23
00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:28,039
is round, it's served in slices, so they came up with the name

24
00:02:28,319 --> 00:02:32,000
the pizza pie. And I remember
as a kid growing up, my father

25
00:02:32,039 --> 00:02:35,960
would often say, Hey, it's
Friday night, why don't we pick up

26
00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:39,240
a pizza pie for dinner. So
yeah, so it was a pizza pie.

27
00:02:39,479 --> 00:02:46,960
And these days we pretty much just
call it a pie. So if

28
00:02:46,039 --> 00:02:52,680
your co workers in New York suggest
going out for a pie, they're probably

29
00:02:52,719 --> 00:02:57,719
not talking about apple or blueberry or
peach. When we say let's go out

30
00:02:57,759 --> 00:03:02,599
for a pie, we're talking about
let's go out for a pizza. By

31
00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:08,319
the way, pizza is accountable noun, so you can have one pizza or

32
00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:14,479
ten pizzas. But you know,
at forty five centimeters, that's a little

33
00:03:14,479 --> 00:03:20,560
bit too big to eat, right, So we cut the pie into slices.

34
00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:25,919
A slice, Let's get a slice. So in New York they sell

35
00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:30,919
pizza by the slice, so you
can go in and get a slice,

36
00:03:31,039 --> 00:03:37,360
or get a couple of slices.
Let's get a slice. Speaking of slices,

37
00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:42,479
here in New York City, we
have something called dollar pizza. Yeah,

38
00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:46,520
you can go into these small pizza
shops where they sell pizza for you

39
00:03:46,639 --> 00:03:51,840
guessed it, a dollar a slice
and some of them are pretty good.

40
00:03:52,599 --> 00:03:57,479
Are you getting hungry? Yet?
Aside from the size, the other important

41
00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:02,680
aspect of pizza in New York is
the crust. The crust is the thin

42
00:04:02,879 --> 00:04:08,840
layer of bread where they put the
tomato, sauce and the cheese. And

43
00:04:09,319 --> 00:04:15,479
most New Yorkers, I believe,
like and prefer thin crust pizza, which

44
00:04:15,599 --> 00:04:21,120
is the most commonly found style of
pizza here. But at your local pizzeria

45
00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:29,240
you can probably get something called a
Sicilian slice or a Sicilian pie, which

46
00:04:29,439 --> 00:04:34,759
is around one point three to two
and a half centimeters thick, and the

47
00:04:34,959 --> 00:04:43,120
bread or the dough or the crust
actually of a Sicilian pie is very soft.

48
00:04:43,759 --> 00:04:48,319
Oh yeah, and I should also
mention Chicago Deep dish pizza, which

49
00:04:48,399 --> 00:04:54,519
is also thicker than regular pizza.
In fact, Chicago Deep Dish pizza is

50
00:04:54,560 --> 00:05:02,319
somewhere between six and seven centimeters thick. The last key ingredient are the toppings.

51
00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:10,399
And in addition to tomatoes and cheese, New York pizzas have sliced pepperoni,

52
00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:15,839
slice sausages, mushrooms, onions,
and so on. The list goes

53
00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:18,800
on and on, and of course
what you put on your pizza kind of

54
00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:27,680
depends on your personal taste. But
my advice to you is top your pizza

55
00:05:27,759 --> 00:05:32,519
with whatever you like. Just leave
the pineapple back in Hawaii. All right,

56
00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:38,079
that's all the time we have for
this English lesson today. Remember this

57
00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:45,759
key vocabulary, the crust, a
slice, a pie, and the toppings.

58
00:05:46,519 --> 00:05:49,959
Well, that's all the time we
have today for this English lesson podcast.

59
00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:54,759
If you'd like to get more practice
using your English, why don't you

60
00:05:54,879 --> 00:06:00,839
join my podcast Learners study group.
There you can make new international friends,

61
00:06:01,439 --> 00:06:08,040
join me for live group coaching every
week. Plus get the pdf transcript and

62
00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:14,240
audio download for every Happy English podcast
in the past and in the future.

63
00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:20,160
And each episode has exercises where you
can practice this English point with speaking and

64
00:06:20,199 --> 00:06:26,639
writing checked by me. To learn
more, just visit my Happy English dot

65
00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:33,319
com and choose podcast lesson six eighty
seven. Remember, learning another language is

66
00:06:33,399 --> 00:06:39,319
not easy, but it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you on

67
00:06:39,519 --> 00:06:44,160
your journey. This podcast is brought
to you by Happy English. Please visit

68
00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:48,639
my Happy English dot com show your
support for Happy English by leaving us a

69
00:06:48,680 --> 00:07:02,879
review. Get English, Get Happy, Happy English