If you live in Israel, or happen to have plans to visit there any time soon, and you're craving vegan pizza-just give Domino's a ring. The fast food pizza chain has announced it's going to begin offering vegan pizzas in its Israel locations. To the vegan (and crappy pizza lover) this is pretty amazing news, but it's also really, really terrible, too. Here's why.
Everyone knows that if you want good pizza, you don't go to Domino's. It's only a first choice when you either 1) have no other choice or 2) don't know that you have other choices. In my hometown you went to a family run place called Aiello's. Or Mineo's down the street. Sometimes, you wandered up to Napoli's. What made them all great (and successful all within two blocks of each other) was that they had their distinct flavors-unique family recipes that we came to love for different reasons. Whichever of those three place you chose, the pies were all made from scratch. You could watch the guys throw the dough up into the air. Napoli's and Aiello's both had big windows in the front of their shops so you could see the dough twirling from down the street. This wasn't by accident. We want to know that our pizza is fresh. Well, usually.
Sometimes, though, we just want pizza. Cheap, gooey, feel-bad-in-the-morning pizza. Or you have a coupon. Or it's really late at night. So, you call Domino's. We used to do it all the time when I was growing up-even though those three delicious hand-twirled pizza shops were just around the corner. It was just easier to call Domino's some nights, even if it never tasted nearly as good (and it never did). The dough was shipped in to the location frozen. So were the toppings and cheeses. There was no window to peek in to see twirling dough. If you were lucky, the delivery guy gave you a smile.
And yet, despite the gazillion family-owned pizza shops in virtually every city in the country, Big Pizza still exists. It rakes in huge amounts of cash. That Papa John's guy pays football players lots of money to look ridiculous in his TV ads. Because, we buy lots of disgusting fast food pizza. It's big business. Just look at some of the stunts Pizza Hut has used to get us to buy more pizza: stuffed crusts stuffed with more cheese, more crusts, more pizza-it's like a crust fractal. Or a cheese fractal. I'm not sure. But the point is–gimmicks work. Especially when cheese is involved.
Some pizza places try to lure us in with the pizza-pizza concept. You get two for the price of one! Except, you get two smaller pizzas every time. Others appeal to our insecurities: "the meat lovers" or "cheese lovers" — are you not a meat or cheese lover? What's the matter with you? My new favorite stunt is by Papa John's. They're now selling a giant cookie in the same shape as a pizza. It's a mind-bender! Can you order the cookie only, or do you also need to order a pizza with it? Are there topping choices?
Okay. Back to Israel.
Domino's caved to a vegan lobby group and is now offering a vegan cheese pizza, thanks to the spirited Facebook campaign led by the group Vegan Friendly. While the chain doesn't have plans to offer a vegan pie in the U.S., they'll surely keep an eye on sales opportunities. Chipotle recently launched vegan sofritos in California stores and Forbes ranked vegan cuisine (not delivered in thirty minutes or less) as its top food trend of 2013. If vegan is where it's at, rest assured that Big Food (and especially Big Pizza) will find a way to a piece of that pie. (Alex, I'll take "Things to Stuff in a Vegan Pizza Crust" for $400, please.)
So here's why it's good news: You're vegan, you're in Israel and you want pizza. Maybe you're stuck at a family gathering or on a business trip in a part of the country you're not familiar with. Being vegan has its disadvantages, and small towns are definitely near the top of the list, particularly if you're hungry. Score one for Domino's to save the day with a vegan pie. They'll deliver, of course, too. Score two. For the veg-curious, it's always advantageous when a familiar brand offers a vegan option. Rather than trying to venture out to a vegan restaurant and order off the menu (what in the world is seitan?)-having a slice of your favorite(ish) veganized pizza is a lot less terrifying. Score three.
But the bad news is pretty bad.
Domino's pizza is disgusting. Like, really, really, bad for you gross. The dough could pass off as Wonder Bread if you baked it up in a loaf pan. Dough conditioners, GMO soy oil, "natural" butter flavor. It's not even close to the stuff the hand-tossing guys make from scratch. I'm pretty sure there's no one tossing it like their grandfather did, either.
This is the sauce ingredient list according to the Domino's website (for the U.S.): Tomatoes, Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Carrot Puree, Onions, Celery Puree, Romano and Parmesan Cheese (Cultured Milk, Salt, Enzymes), Sugar, Salt, Garlic, Butter, Spices, Chicken Base (Chicken including Natural Chicken Juices, Salt, Chicken Fat, Sugar, Maltodextrin, Hydrolyzed Corn Gluten, Dried Whey, Natural Flavoring, Yeast Extract, Turmeric for Color), Olive Oil, Citric Acid, and Xanthan Gum
Should I even ask why chicken and whey are in a pizza sauce? Does Domino's have some kind of deal going with factory farms on their leftovers? (Yes, duh, of course.) Last time I checked, making a marinara or pizza sauce could be done with, like, five ingredients: tomatoes, olive oil, oregano, basil and salt. But surely the hydrolyzed corn gluten adds a nice flavor, just like the chicken juices and dried whey. Perhaps I should let my old neighborhood pizza guys know about these trade secrets. Most everything besides the vegetables and salt on the list is likely (read: definitely) genetically modified, too.
Then there's the new vegan soy cheese topping, which I could not find ingredients for at this time. But no doubt it's just as mangled with fillers and flavorings as the rest of the Domino's menu items.
Clearly the chain is responding to customer concern-and that's a really good thing. But they have a ton of other issues besides meat and cheese to contend with.
And here's a tip-whether you're in Israel or not, many family-owned pizza shops use fairly clean ingredients. Dough is made from scratch as is sauce–because they're proprietary family recipes. It's what you get that small business loan for–to share your grandmother's famous pizza recipe with your local community. So typically, all you have to do is ask these local pizza shops for a pizza without the cheese, and not only is it vegan, it's also real pizza. Hand tossed crust and everything.
Read more about why to go vegan
Keep in touch with Jill on Twitter @jillettinger
Image: miskan
