ABSTRACT
I have received a Pizza Hut home delivery fl yer listing the pizzas I can expect at my doorstep within half an hour. They include: Veggie do Pyaaza, Paneer Pataka, Sabz Bahar, Killer Korma, Teekha Tikka and Chicken Toofani. A detailed description of each pizza is included. Teekha Tikka is: ‘succulent pieces of chicken tikka sit invitingly on a bed of onions and luscious mozzarella cheese’, while Killer Korma is: ‘a lethal combination of cheese, onions, green chilies and lamb korma’. Only one Italian ingredient fi nds a mention in the ingredients. To ensure sales, this food chain, which has 10,000 units in over 80 countries, has had to adapt its menus to suit our palate. Yet Italian pizzas were introduced some 30 years ago by our local food chain, Nirula’s, and today the pizza base is available, like naans, off the counter in stores across Indian cities. Understandably, an Italian running an ‘authentic’ Italian restaurant in Goa was furious every time Pizza Hut was mentioned. ‘How can people think that pizza comes from America?’ It was no use arguing with him that Italian migrants introduced this dish to America or that the term ‘authentic pizza’ could be a misnomer.
