Recycled Pizza

With all the boxes that I brought to Emory, I did not think I would find them in the DUC cafeteria under a warming lamp, when I was finished unpacking all of my belongings; however, when I had my first bite of the DUC pizza, that was exactly my first thought. I realized that instead of recycling the boxes, I might as well have sprinkled some cheese on them, warmed them up in the microwave, cut them up into eight slices and eaten it, because that was what I was tasting my first day of the cafeteria food that I was supposed to eat three times a day, everyday, for the next nine months.

I was aware that the pizza I would have at the DUC would not be from a nice Italian restaurant or even from Dominoes or Pizza Hut but I did wrongfully assume that the pizza would be edible. I do not eat pork so a pepperoni pizza does not appeal to me. A normal cheese pizza would be ideal; however I have several problems with the cheese pizza that the DUC serves. First of all, it has no crust. Where the crust should be, there is just a thin layer of crusty burnt bread that practically crumbles into ash as soon as it hits the tongue. Having the crust slightly burned is desirable to some people, but this crust has no flavor to it at all and is basically black in appearance.

 Secondly, the “cheese” pizza is not really cheese pizza. I was brought up to think that cheese pizza only had cheese on it, pepperoni pizza had pepperonis on it, jalapeno pizza had jalapenos on it and so forth. Apparently, cheese pizza now has a new definition. Cheese Pizza: a pizza that has cheese, and any other vegetables the kitchen has lying around, thrown on top. Everyday I walk past the pizza section, hoping that a normal slice of cheese pizza will be sitting, waiting for me to pick it up, but unfortunately that is never the case. What is sitting there though, is a “cheese” pizza, with a few pieces of broccoli thrown on, and a couple of artichokes squished in, and the finishing touch, the awkwardly large pieces of tomato. Then, under the strangest combination of vegetables, there lies the heart of the dish, the cheese. The cheese may look normal, but it is actually just play-doh. I feel like my seven-year-old version who does not know any better and eats the play-doh that mother then has to pull out of the back of my throat.  

As bad as the cheese pizza may look, the pepperoni pizza seems like the complete opposite. It is a normal pizza, with nicely cooked crust and no vegetables cooked in. If only they had a cheese pizza version of that, I would not be so irritated. One day though, I saw exactly what I was looking for. I only saw one person with the perfect plate of pizza. Considering that only one person seemed to have a normal cheese pizza on his plate, it is very possible that this could have been a mirage, but regardless, it gave me hope. When I walk into the DUC, I just hope to see what my mind had concocted as a normal cheese pizza. Everyday though, I look through all of the busy bodies at the pizza station, and everyday all I ever leave that pizza line with is disappointment.