The profound pizza

With his renowned intellectual rigour, Michael Jackson cuts through the crust to solve one of Beerdom’s hitherto impenetrable mysteries

Many people consider that the greatest advance in the progress of humankind was the invention of the wheel. It was a clever idea – and a nice shape – concedes my fellow columnist Dave Barry, of the Miami Herald. He’s a very perceptive fellow, Dave, and I have always been proud to have him as a professional colleague. He argues that the greatest invention of all was the pizza. Why?
“Because it goes so well with beer,” Dave explains, as though stating the obvious to a particularly dull nephew.

I had long been aware of the marriage in America (perhaps at Reno, Nevada?) of pizza and beer but had never given it any serious attention myself. I think I was put off pizza during a period when I had an indirect relationship with a university in Chicago. My roommate there ate nothing else and too often washed it down with Coke (the kind you take by mouth, rather than by nose).

I was obliged to give a more serious consideration to the pizza when it featured in an offer I could not refuse. I was invited to speak at the annual conference of the US National Pizza Association – which was, indeed, held in the state of Nevada, but in Vegas rather than Reno. The fee represented enough dough to get my teeth into, delivered to my home with a free pint of Ben & Jerry’s. The ice cream clinched it while also ensuring that I didn’t end the sentence on a preposition. The offer was made all the more attractive by the fact that this visit to Vegas would surely fill one of the regular articles that I w.....

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By Michael Jackson

Section : The Beer Hunter

Page number : 7