World Pizza Day in SA: Delicious plant-based pizza no longer a pie-in-the-sky dream

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The Al baba sababa plant-based pizza from Ferdinando’s Pizza. Photo: Ferdinando’s Pizza
Arguably the most loved comfort food of our time, pizza has captivated millions of people around the world since its humble beginning in 10th century Naples, Italy. What started out as humble flatbread with a tomato base and toppings, food for the commoners, grew in popularity in the USA, and soon became one of the most loved and diversified dishes in the world

Diehard pizza fans might be under the impression that you wouldn’t be able to enjoy your favourite food if you were to change your diet to vegetarian or vegan. This simply isn’t true! Pizza is still a staple among those following a meat-free or completely plant-based diet.

Several local fast-food restaurants and pizzerias have proven this time and again and have made it increasingly convenient, affordable, and delicious to order plant-based pizzas.

Ranked number 31 on Big Seven Travel’s list of 50 Best Pizzas in the World and as the best pizzeria in South Africa, Ferdinando’s Pizza in Observatory, Cape Town, has over 20 different vegetarian and vegan pizzas on its menu. Here, pizzas are made with Italian flour, topped with the freshest ingredients, and then baked in a wood-fired pizza oven. A menu standout is their Vegana pizza, made with a thick tomato base and topped with sesame seeds, peppers, baby marrow, cherry tomatoes, avocado, aubergine, and caramelised onion jam.

Also included on this list at number 45 is Massimo’s in Hout Bay, Cape Town. Massimo’s focuses on Roman-style pizza with ultra-thin crusts, topped with seasonal ingredients. There are at least ten vegetarian and vegan pizzas on their menu.

Local fast food giant Panarottis has also surprised South Africans with its wide range of plant-based options. Panarottis came third in ProVeg South Africa’s first Plant-Based Friendly Fast Food Franchise Ranking in 2022 after Kauai and Spur. Panarottis’ pizzas, pasta, and subs have plant-based swap-outs, including vegan cheese, mince, steak, chicken, and mayonnaise options.

“Starting with a plant-based base, and building up, the key ingredients for most of their pizzas are in fact vegan,” the report read. “Panarottis’ menu items are identifiable by diet preference, with a ‘vegan-friendly’ logo across a third of main pizza dishes. While they are still a predominantly meat toppings pizza restaurant, they appear to have made their menu inclusive of a variety of preferences, which include vegan, vegetarian, and for those with allergies.”
Reasons to try plant-based pizzas
PLANT-BASED PIZZAS CAN BE HEALTHIER
Whether it is getting more and a greater diversity of veggies in your diet, or the reduction in saturated fats from dairy (especially when made from nuts with no preservatives) and processed meats, plant-based pizzas are healthier without sacrificing the feel-good effect after a bite of fresh, hot pizza. Many people prefer to completely cut out all cheese on their pizzas making them even healthier.
DISCOVER A WHOLE NEW WORLD OF CUISINE
Plant-based pizzas are an excellent example to destroy the myth that vegan pizzas are boring. Plant-based pizza is packed with culinary innovation that adds new flavours and food combinations only limited by the imagination. Tasting different plant-based pizzas broadens your own culinary pallet and exposes you to a world of new flavours.
PLANT-BASED PIZZAS HAVE BECOME MORE AFFORDABLE
Not all plant-based pizza ingredients and toppings are expensive or exotic. Basic plant-based ingredients like vegetables are readily available and affordable to most people.
GOOD QUALITY PLANT-BASED ALTERNATIVES ARE READILY AVAILABLE
Pizza without cheese is unthinkable, right? Think again. Great strides have been made to deliver top-quality and delicious plant-based dairy and meat alternatives. These can easily be added to your pizza to deliver the plant-based version of your favourite pizza.
BABY STEPS MAKE GOING PLANT-BASED EASIER
If you have friends or family members who are vegetarian or vegan, hosting a plant-based pizza night even if you do eat meat is a great way to educate yourself about their lifestyle choices and show your support. The opposite is also true. If you are vegetarian or vegan, it is also a fun way to introduce your meat-eating friends to interesting new pizzas and show them how good plant-based can taste.
PLANT-BASED PIZZAS NIGHTS ARE A GREAT WAY TO ENTERTAIN AND SUPPORT YOUR PLANT-BASED FRIENDS AND FAMILY
If you have friends or family members who are vegetarian or vegan, hosting a plant-based pizza night even if you do eat meat is a great way to educate yourself about their lifestyle choices and show your support. The opposite is also true. If you are vegetarian or vegan, it is also a fun way to introduce your meat-eating friends to interesting new pizzas and show them how good plant-based can taste.

Interesting facts about pizza

  • The most expensive pizza in the world costs $12 000. This is a pizza sold in Italy, made by Renato Viola and just the dough takes 72 hours to make. It features some of the most lavish ingredients, such as grains of pink Australian sea salt from the Murray River, lobster from Norway, three different types of caviar, and seven types of cheese. It’s served with Champagne which compliments the toppings.
  • The word pizza was first recorded in the 10th-century Latin manuscript from the Southern Italian town of Gaeta in Lazio.
  • 350 slices of pizza are eaten every second in the United States. However, surprisingly, the country with the highest consumption of pizza in the world per capita is Norway.
  • Pizza is the second most popular fast food in the United States. The only fast food that people love more than pizza is hamburgers.
  • According to the legends, America’s first pizzeria was Lombardi’s, which was originally a grocery store that started selling pizzas in 1905 much before it got popular in the 1940s.
  • According to popular legend, when King Umberto 1 and Queen Margherita visited Naples in 1889, they tried a range of pizzas because they were bored with their regular gourmet offerings. The Queen particularly loved the simple pizza with just tomato sauce, green basil, and mozzarella cheese, and since then this particular variety of pizza is known as the Margherita pizza.
  • In the year 2009, Neapolitan pizza was registered with the European Union as a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed dish, and in the year 2017, the art of making Neopolitan Pizza was included on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage.
  • In Scotland, you would find something called ‘deep-fried’ pizza. Instead of baking the pizza, chefs just deep fry the whole pizza and toppings resulting in a delectable treat
  • In 2013, NASA funded a prototype 3D printer that could create food for astronauts on long-duration space missions. Pizza was one of the foods on the device.

A person who makes pizza is also referred to as a pizzaiolo.

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