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A Pizza Tour of My Travels

October 17, 2010 by Jennifer Che 24 Comments

PizzaCollage-1
My family has always loved traveling. Even though my parents were incredible frugal with everything else, we somehow always could afford plane tickets to fly to various parts of the world. Heck, my paternal grandfather founded what became the largest travel agency in Taiwan. When you have something like that in your lineage, you know you’re destined to travel.

To this day, the travel bug has never left me, and I’m always wondering what trip to take next.

The next round in Project Food Blog is to create our own interpretation of pizza. I decided to take this opportunity to reflect upon the last decade or so of travel and express those trips by creating the flags of the countries I have visited as pizzas.

Now mind you, I do mostly Asian cooking (although Bryan does have an affinity for fresh pasta, so I do make lots of various pasta dishes). Nevertheless, I have never ever made pizza before.
stretching pizza dough'
Pizza dough is easy enough to make, ha ha, if you have a bread machine, which I do.

Pizza Dough
3/4 cup warm water
1 T olive oil
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

1 tsp dry yeast

Just throw in water, oil, flour, salt, sugar, and yeast into the machine (in that order), set the machine to “dough only cycle,” and before you know it, out pops some pizza dough. Of course, you can also purchase pizza dough, either from the supermarket or your favorite pizzeria. You’d be surprised to learn that they are often willing to sell the dough for a very reasonable price.
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Silly me, I thought you had to toss the pizza dough and magically stretch it in this laborious way.
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So Not true. Rolling out with a rolling pin works just fine.
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In fact, it’s a lot easier to control the shape of the pizza dough that way, which was important for me, since I needed rectangles for my flags.
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You don’t need a pizza stone, but it really makes the pizza taste so much better. It’s best to heat the pizza stone in the oven for about 30 minutes at 450 to 500 °F before putting the pizzas onto the stone. After that, bake for about 10-12 minutes.

It’s really surprisingly simple. And you can totally use your creativity for the toppings – heh, just like the way I did in creating these pizzas. I tried my best to incorporate bits of each country’s actual cuisine into the pizzas (in some cases easier than others).

Sooooo . . . without any further adieu, allow me to take you on a short, virtual tour of my travels in the form of pizza flags!

Canada
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I grew up about an hour’s drive from Windsor, Canada, so my family went there frequently to shop for Asian groceries and eat good Chinese dim sum. However, my most memorable trip to Canada was a family trip to the Canadian Rockies in 1998. This is seriously one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. The scenery is breathtaking, especially the soaring mountains and the unusually turquoise water.
jen-canada-rockies-final-1
Canadian Rockies, Canada

This pizza takes an ordinary pepperoni pizza and jazzes it up by caramelizing the maple-leaf shaped pepperonis with maple syrup in a toaster oven. The red sauce on the side is a simple tomato, butter, and onion sauce. Feel free to use your favorite tomato sauce recipe.
MakingCanadaPizza-1
The United Kingdom
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I visited London for the first time back in 1999 when my college a cappella group went to work with a Chinese church in London for a week. I have fond memories exchanging cultural ideas with those Chinese Christians in London.
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This pizza is a play on “Bangers and Mash,” a British dish I learned about during that trip. The pizza sits on base of purple mashed potatoes (“mash”), and has strips of sausage (“bangers”) as the red stripes. Thinly sliced mozarella cheese act as the white part of the flag.
PurpleMashBangers-1

Italy
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Bryan and I spent our honeymoon in Rome, Venice, and Florence. We enjoyed absolutely fantastic food in Italy, and learned how good, fresh ingredients can really make simple dishes shine. This pizza is inspired by the classic Italian salad Insalate Caprese (tomato, basil, and fresh mozarella). In this case, instead of using basil, I have added peppercress, a pungent and fragrant green that adds a lovely bite to the pizza.
VeniceRoofDeck
A rooftop champagne toast in Venice, Italy

France
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I studied French in high school and have always loved the beautiful language. For a special milestone birthday, Bryan and I spent a week in Paris, staying right on the grounds of Versaille. It was in Paris where I first discovered my love for the Pierre Hermes Ispahan macaron. 
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This simple French flag pizza comprises fresh tomato slices, fresh mozzarella cheese, and mashed blue potatoes. The flavors are simple yet delicious when you use high quality, fresh ingredients. For a taste of France, you can incorporate a strong blue cheese into the mashed potatoes for a more unique flavor.
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Versaille, France

USA
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Bryan’s family loves to camp at national parks, and I’ve had the wonderful opportunity of seeing some of these beautiful parks with his family ever since we got married.

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Capitol Reef, Utah

This USA flag contains blue potato slices, mozzarella cheese, and a simple red tomato sauce. The stars are sprinklings of feta cheese. For an alternative way, you can use a base of mozarella cheese and then make the red stripes using bacon.
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Japan

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I studied Japanese in college and spent a summer working as an intern right outside of Tokyo. I fell in love with the food and culture of Japan while I was there. However, it wasn’t until 10 years later that I had the chance to return, this time with Bryan. Bryan and I enjoyed incredible food in Japan (fresh sushi and Kobe beef, just to name a few). This rice-based pizza is inspired by the sushi that we had in Japan. Prebake a “crust” by baking a square of dough without any toppings. After the crust is done, top with sushi rice and sushi-quality raw tuna (maguro). Optionally, put a dab of wasabi right underneath the tuna (out of sight).

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Kyubei in Tokyo (my favorite sushi place!)

Taiwan
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Of course, my parents are from Taiwan, so I went to Taiwan frequently as a child. My favorite foods in Taiwan? Traditional Taiwanese breakfast, shaved ice, and dumplings! I gave this pizza an Asian twist by blending roasted red peppers and “spiking” the mixture with Sriracha sauce to create a spicy and sweet base sauce. The blue portion is mashed blue potatoes, and the “sun” is a sliced mushroom. 
IMG_0146-1
Ice Monster, Taipei Taiwan

So that’s it! I have hardly touched every country I’ve visited, but at least I’ve taken you to visit some of them, albeit brief! Thank you so much for joining me on this journey around the world in the form of pizzas!

Bon Appetit!
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Thank you so much for those of you who voted for me the last several rounds. This blog entry is my submission for The Next Food Blog Star’s fifth challenge: Pizza! If you are so inclined, please vote for this entry. Thanks so much for your support!

©2009-2014 Tiny Urban Kitchen
All Rights Reserved

Filed Under: World Travel Tagged With: foodbuzz

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Comments

  1. Jamie says

    November 23, 2010 at 10:02 am

    This such a great idea! We do family movie and I try to theme our food with our movie. It’s hard sometimes, but this idea could work for so many things! Thank you!

    Reply
  2. enrolled agent cpe says

    November 24, 2010 at 6:55 am

    This food idea is pretty neat. I fell in love with Taiwan and can’t stop visiting the country every now and then. I think aside from the culture its the variety of foods that drew me closer to the place.

    Reply
  3. sabrina says

    November 25, 2010 at 3:03 am

    What a super cool idea! Seesaw folks oughtta know about this!

    sharing on fb and twitter at seesawsf 🙂 thanks!

    Reply
  4. Guest says

    November 26, 2010 at 3:32 am

    In the first pic the Italian flag is the wrong way round.

    Reply
  5. You're right. says

    November 26, 2010 at 3:39 am

    and so is the french one…

    Reply
  6. Steven_kyou says

    November 27, 2010 at 6:36 am

    wow.. it’s so cool.. can I post this on my blog too???

    Reply
  7. Ahycahng says

    March 21, 2011 at 5:32 pm

    Found your blog while I searched for the All Clad fry pan reviews. you are such a creative chef! I am from Taiwan and have a “Food ” related graduate degree plus working experience at pharm reserch company but can’t stop the reserch spirit about cooking installed in my brian ..very similar to you : ) Except I am now the chef of stay home. Best wish for your work at kitchen.
    Amy

    Reply
  8. maliububarbosa says

    March 25, 2011 at 7:22 am

    They weren’t limited to pizza toppings & therefore had a wider range of foods they could use to make each flag.

    Reply
  9. Vanessaboz says

    June 18, 2011 at 7:43 am

    I know you posted this a while ago but I only discovered the post now. This idea of pizzas from all over the world is wonderful. I will post it on my blog about family travels BozAround and use&credit your photos if that’s ok with you. Love the idea! Cheers. vanessa

    Reply
  10. Giulia Della Maddalena says

    July 4, 2011 at 1:28 pm

    Fantastic!!!
    Saluti da Milano (Italy) Giulia

    Reply
  11. Giulia Della Maddalena says

    July 4, 2011 at 1:28 pm

    Fantastic!!!
    Saluti da Milano (Italy)
    Giulia

    Reply
  12. Waleed says

    July 20, 2011 at 7:59 am

    fantastic and extremely cute…

    Reply
  13. Neelam says

    August 11, 2011 at 1:36 am

    fantastic and extremely cute i saw first time this type of pizza it’s  really great idea…i love the flag type of pizza.. i love the pizza images of ur blog…..
    Thanks for the pizza recipe  i must try it..keep it up.best wishes to u from my side.

    http://framt.com/fs/Kitchen-Dining-pc267.

    Reply
  14. Msn Extra Email says

    October 8, 2011 at 7:36 am

    Thank you zoo much. I have to make a pizza in class that has a multicultural theme or looks like a flag. You are a lifesaver as this is the only place that says what they use. which the ‘mash’ could i just dye it with food colouring?

    Reply
  15. jentinyurbankitchen says

    October 8, 2011 at 11:01 am

    I’ve never tried food coloring so I don’t know if it would work, but I don’t see why not! I used naturally purple potatoes.

    Reply
  16. Nise en Scène says

    October 26, 2011 at 12:20 pm

    GREAT idea!

    Reply
  17. Kim @ The Educators Spin On It says

    March 20, 2012 at 8:10 am

    We’re teaching our children about the world by doing 12 Dishes Around the World and incorperating books and crafts.  We’d love for to link up your adorable flag pizza to our page.  http://theeducatorsspinonit.blogspot.com/search/label/Around%20the%20World 

    Reply
  18. Asian Food Online Grocery says

    May 8, 2012 at 7:51 pm

    Now there are different variety of Pizza item available in the market. This rice-based pizza is inspired by the
    sushi that we had in Japan. Prepacked a crust by baking a
    square of dough without any toppings. After the crust is done, top with
    sushi rice and sushi-quality raw tuna.

    Reply
  19. Cheap Flights to Windhoek says

    May 19, 2012 at 9:01 am

    No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.

    Reply
  20. Jodi_Miller says

    July 5, 2012 at 5:11 pm

    I noticed you said “You grew up near Windsor”?  I went to University there and spent loads of time in Detroit. (reverse life)

    Reply
  21. Jennifer Che says

    July 6, 2012 at 12:04 am

    Funny! Yes, we went to Windsor whenever we wanted good Chinese dim sum! Actually, I lived in Ohio and almost never went to Detroit. 

    Reply
  22. joy33125 says

    July 5, 2014 at 6:50 am

    je vais le faire pour la boum de mafillle mmmmmmeeeeerrrrrcccciiiiii!!!!!!!!!

    Reply

Trackbacks

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    September 14, 2015 at 4:49 am

    […] Si queréis saber cómo se han hecho estas pizzas-bandera tan apetecibles, lo podéis ver aquí. […]

    Reply
  2. Tiny Urban Kitchen is 10 Years Old! - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    October 1, 2019 at 12:01 pm

    […] Pizza Tour of my Travels […]

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Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
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