Poll: Is cheese considered a pizza topping?
Author: WIBIA | Filed under: Announcements/News
Okay, reaching out to the WIBIA army on this one. In my opinion, a pizza is defined as: sauce and cheese on a crust. Someone very close to me (it may or may not be my wife) thinks that cheese is a topping because when you order a pizza, they will ask what kind of pizza and cheese is an option. Furthermore, it is “on top” of the pizza as well.
My point, cheese is required to call it pizza, otherwise it is just bread and sauce. I understand there are so called pizzas without sauce and some without cheese. Whatever.
Anytime that I look at a pizza menu, the pricing starts off with cheese pizza and then 1 topping etc, 2 toppings, etc. It doesn’t start off with bread and sauce!!!!
Before someone asks, cheese is a topping if you order extra cheese.
If you want, list your favorite pizza toppings/combinations in the comments section. My favorite, sausage and pepperoni.
-WIBIA
It’s not a pizza without cheese. Otherwise it’s…flatbread with tomato sauce?
Doing an “I told you so” to your wife isn’t going to win you any points… Good luck at bed time!
Standard Mozzarella should be considered standard on most pizzas. That being said, one of my favorite pizza topping combinations is chicken, feta cheese, and chopped spinach. YUM.
Well, I’ll just ask this: “Is sauce a topping?” I don’t think it is a topping.
@Sarah: I agree.
@DHL: She has a great sense of humor, she will get a chuckle out of it. Otherwise, the public “I told you so” is usually a bad move! I had to post it though, because I asked a few people at work and they agree that cheese is a topping…so…
@John: that sounds good. It gave me the idea that people should add their favorite toppings/combinations in the comment section
@Justin: Good question. I don’t think that it is a topping either, but I have had plenty of pizzas without sauce, just with a little oil…
This wikipedia article said that cheese was added in 1889…. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza
Ok, so I have to clarify my thought process on this–b/c my husband oversimplified my argument:
One night he asked me is Cheese considered a topping? My answer was yes for the following reasons (not “just b/c it is on top”):
1) If it is ALWAYS apart of the pizza–why is it when you call to order a pizza you have to either a) state you want a cheese pizza or b) they ask if you want cheese?
2) It IS a topping–bleu cheese, extra cheese, feta cheese and so on are all on the toppings list.
I will conceed this point–a “typical pizza” does come with cheese, BUT the question presented was “is it considered a topping”–and I think if you look at all the various pizza types out there–which contain various types of cheeses or without cheese–it can be in fact considered a topping.
IMO, cheese is only a topping when you order EXTRA cheese. I agree with the others that say it’s not pizza without crust, sauce, and cheese. Those are requisite ingredients.
I’ll throw out there that my vegan girlfriend once made me try a cheese-less pizza and I almost spit it out. Deplorable!
So, CurlyFry, when you call to order pizza … if you simply say, “pepperoni and sausage,” does a pizza come to your house without cheese?
There’s your answer.
I’m torn.
There is the senza formaggio at Bazbeaux, which I would definitely still consider pizza, but if I ordered a sausage pizza from Bazbeaux, I’d get surly if it didn’t have cheese.
@Show: To answer your question–yes I probably would get a pizza with cheese on it. However, I would note I usually state I want a cheese pizza with x, y and z. So, I don’t think it answers the question.
As I already conceeded–a “typical American pizza” would have cheese on it. However, I think the question at hand–”Is Cheese A Topping”, and not –”what is considered a pizza?”
Technically, cheese is NOT a topping but hey, I was a kid once, a kid who hated onions and other crunchy, mooshy or foreign things so it was always always cheese. There’s the four-cheese kind of pizza which I see as a topping situation. Then there are slices of mozzarella. Is that a topping?
Can we clear up another thing? Does pizza have a “flavor”? Sometimes, I’ll be with friends who ask, “What flavor pizza do you want?” A flavor is an effervescent thing, I think. It’s vanilla or lemon. There are pizza flavored chips then there’s a KIND of pizza with pepperonis. Does this make sense? I feel like a motard and now I’m spiraling into a vortex of pizza angst.
Cheese is a topping, but it’s kinda redundant to state “cheese & sausage” or “cheese & pepperoni” when it’d be simpler to just state “sausage pizza” or “pepperoni pizza”. Cheese is a given.
When I order a pepperoni pizza for my kids it comes withs cheese. I never mentioned cheese (or sauce for that matter) yet it’s there. So while it is on top of a pizza and technically a topping it is part of the definition of pizza itself. That being said as a bullheaded woman I would fight you to the end to convince you I’m right and (like your wife) would crack up that you posted a poll for the told ya so.
Still… you’re in soooo much trouble when she finds out!
I would say that the cheese is part of the pizza! If anything the sauce should be considered a topping, because you’ll find more white pizzas then you’ll find cheeseless pizzas.
not itallian at all. I live in western NC. but basic is better. that means dough, then fallen flat. caint use biscuit dough ( well you can an its fine, just wont be very crispy) with tomato sauce ( just plain , thank you- salt . oregeno, pepper, vinigar and maybe a pinch of onion, in fact ragu, delmonte is just fine) and chesse. ( no, not 12 buck a lbs imported . kraft or bordens is fine or watever is on sale). Its comon food. like pasta corbonara. lasts nights sapagettie reheated with this mornings left over bacon and grease and a few olives. shit. 15 bucks a plate? but I do love pizza. my favorite is ( goes with out saying red sauce and chesse) sausage, mushrooms and black olives. You can have all the other stuff if you want, and its fine, good in fact, like barbeque chicken pizza. great. but its not pizza, nor when you add bacon, ham or pinapple. or mayhap it is. its just flat bread with toppings, whatever you have. Tis like st patricks day. I happen to like turnips. and potatoes, and dont really care if it is spelled with or with out the e. just have a good time and be safe, ( gonna have corned beef hash, eggs, kale and soda bread and a bit of beer and no not dyed green).I love south american ( ok, Mexican) food. but taco bell, much as I like it, aint very representative. mumm. now I am hungry…
Cheese is a given on pizza, not a topping. Technically it is, but like you mentioned, it’s not pizza without cheese. I’ll also have to counter the “they will ask what kind of pizza and cheese is an option” statement. I have never been to a pizza parlor where, when ordering a pizza, I have ever been asked “would I like cheese with that”.
It may be still be a pizza without sauce or cheese, but that will be specified. Otherwise, if it says “pizza” – it has dough, sauce, cheese.
I think the real question is the definition of topping. In everyday terms, a topping is something that goes on top, yes. In pizza land, I think “topping” does not include mozzarella. The mozzarella is a given for a standard pizza. So, if you’re talking pizza topping, cheese isn’t one of them.
i’ve worked many years in the pizza business. cheese is a given! people who order a pizza *without* cheese are looked at strangely. certain specialty pizzas may have a different type of cheese than the restaurant’s standard, though. and of course you can order extra cheese. some places a “cheese pizza” has more cheese on it than a “sausage pizza”, for example (their pricing usually starts at 1-topping, and not plain).
however, my mom went to france once and order a pizza with x, y, and z. she didn’t *say* she wanted cheese, so she got a pizza without it! the netherlands, though, seems to understand that cheese *is* integral to a pizza! of course, the dutch *love* cheese (they are the original “cheeseheads”, after all!).
I actually don’t eat cheese on my pizza, so I consider it a topping. Granted, it’s kinda a “default” thing, but for me, it has to be an option to leave it off. And to those who think it’s not really pizza without cheese… pizza is still my favorite food, with or without cheese. THAT tells me something.
I agree that a pizza consists of crust, sauce, and cheese. some places make there breadsticks with the same dough as the pizza..theres no sauce on the breadsticks but there is cheese…so that cant be considered a pizza.
well according to wikipedia all versions of traditional pizza from Italy list the same ingredients as being standard: dough/crust, sauce, and mozarella. Everything else varies and even on the pizzas that use oil in place of sauce, there is still mozarella. In fact, for those who cannot eat dairy, they have to ask for no cheese since it is automatically on any type of pizza you order. So that would mean it’s not a topping, it’s part of the core of what makes a pizza a pizza. Also, the pizza places where I live, might have deals on a 2 topping, 3 topping whatever pizzas where I might want one of my “toppings” to be extra cheese and they say cheese is extra and not a topping covered by that deal, and they ask me to select from the list of toppings. So, no, cheese is not a topping, it’s implied.