PrintIs Pizza the most convenient food ever?
Hey everyone. This is my first post. Thanks for having me.
I'm having this debate ongoing now with a bunch of people as to whether or not PIZZA is the most convenient dinner ever created. Convenient in the sense that you can pick up the phone and order it and it's quick and easy. The argument is whether or not Chinese is more convenient.
What do you think?
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19 Comments:
Anthonyg: Welcome! Great to have you here on Serious Eats. Now to answer your question.
This is just my opinion, and I am a bit biased, but I'd say pizza is definitely more convenient than Chinese.
1.) There aren't as many options to consider. You pretty much know what you're going to order before you pick up the phone -- and you rarely need a menu to figure it out.
2.) I always order a soup and some kind of appetizer when I order Chinese. So then I have to figure out if it's going to be egg drop, wonton, hot-and-sour along with crab rangoon or egg roll or scallion pancakes. With pizza, unless you're *really* into the subpar chicken sides, you're just going to get a pie or two and nothing more.
3.) Living in New York, I typically avoid the chain stuff in favor of mom-and-pop places, but if you *do* order from the chains, it's now super convenient to do so online. Dominos.com has a particularly great user experience.
The only thing inconvenient about ordering pizza is the damn box afterward. Someone needs to work on inventing a pizza box that breaks down conveniently so you can recycle it easier. Say, one with perforations that you can tear it into smaller parts along and fit it in with the rest of your recycling. I don't know.
Adam Kuban at 12:15PM on 03/21/08
two words:
one hand
'nuff said
bisbee at 12:20PM on 03/21/08
There is nothing else that I have been able to successfully eat* (ie, not get all over myself or on my clothes) while walking down a crowded street in NYC while I hold multiple bags (we don’t have cars – we have to carry all our crap around) and a cell phone pressed to one ear in the other hand. NOTHING.
*Just make sure you blot the grease off first, or you'll end up with orange grease running down your arm, and that really sucks.
charm city cupcake at 12:34PM on 03/21/08
I assume you're excluding deep dish from this discussion. It's a knife and fork, sit down food.
beth1 at 1:20PM on 03/21/08
I don't eat pizza so I am super biased.
I think the easiest food to grab and eat is temaki sushi. Walk in to any convenience/drug store in Hawaii or a Japanese restaurant, pay, walk/drive, and eat. No drips, no greasy mess, and you can eat and walk/drive without attracting too much attention. A neat cone of yum. Most people who eat sushi already know what they like and don't like, so there's no real decisionmaking going on. I don't eat raw fish, so my favorite ones are the crab salad or california temaki.
Turkey legs at renaissance fairs are very easy and filling, but I get stares when I am walking around eating a turkey leg almost the size of my head at a ren fair, let alone out on the street. =)
Cassaendra at 2:00PM on 03/21/08
Compared to Chinese take out, obviously pizza is more convenient: no utensils, minimal packaging, no portioning of meat/veg over rice, etc. Also, depending on the topping, it has a reasonable representation of the whole food pyramid (admittedly heavy on the fat/dairy).
Ever? I don't know, and it depends on the pizza. The average New York slice is definitely highly convenient. A crispy thin crust is less friendly to eating and walking. Never tried any of them while driving.
In the general sense of time and effort between deciding to eat and actually eating, that's a tougher call. Microwaveable meals would obviously be quicker than waiting for a delivery, for example.
Given the choice between pizza and Chinese, I usually prefer Chinese.
Cassaendra, frenched lamb chops are even easier to eat and walk with. So easy in fact, that it's absurd how uncomfortable one feels walking down the street and eating one. Context does make all the difference: what's designed to be tidy and elegant in a cocktail reception feels ridiculous and barbaric on the sidewalk.
renzata at 2:39PM on 03/21/08
"There is nothing else that I have been able to successfully eat* (ie, not get all over myself or on my clothes) while walking down a crowded street in NYC while I hold multiple bags (we don’t have cars – we have to carry all our crap around) and a cell phone pressed to one ear in the other hand. NOTHING"
Suggestions: Ham sandwich, apple, corn dog, kebab, bagel with shmear
Personally I think chinese is more convenient because you can take it to work the next day without having to repackage it. I'd get some stares if I walked in with a pizza box under my arm, but a little leftover mu shu in the takeaway container? No problem!
schwartz at 2:43PM on 03/21/08
Schwartz - I can't eat most of those things as I am an herbivore. It's also hard to go into a store and get a PB&J sandwich, and other sandwiches from delis (such as egg salad) are messy. Fruit is great on the go but it is not a meal (at least not for me it isn't!) Bagels with cream cheese are a viable option but the ones I love from Ess-a-Bagel are so damn big and nearly impossible for me to fit in my mouth, much less without getting all that cream cheese all over my face and hands.
As for leftover pizza - you can wrap the slices in foil and I'm pretty sure no one will look at you funny :)
charm city cupcake at 3:55PM on 03/21/08
Hey folks,
I''m replying about Adam's final comment - I have the same problem with the box, hard to get rid of in a small garbage chute. So therefore, for home delivery in NY, in regards to disposal - Pizza is clearly not the most convenient :-(
Yesterday I saw a press release about a new pizza box somebody is looking to market or sell - the release this on Tuesday. It has a rip cord that breaks it in two, and one half can be folded to make a mini-box. Press Release from PR Web:
They're offering $100,000 to someone that can help make a connection to sell or distribute the box. They website with a pretty cool commercial (www.bestpizzabox.com), and video of their press-release on Tuesday. Hopefully, it does not get bought by Dominos - I too only eat "local" Pizza - can't stand Chain Pizza.
I registered on BestPizzaBox.com for video updates - plus I know someone in the food packaging business - who knows? With a new box - Pizza could be the definitive "most convenient food ever".
James F at 4:51PM on 03/21/08
Chinese is more convenient.
Ordering a pizza takes 45 to 60 minutes for delivery!
paris221966 at 10:40PM on 03/21/08
Part plate, part food, no cutlery required...Anthonyg, you're onto something! (And welcome :D)
chiff0nade at 7:33AM on 03/22/08
Pizza, because pizza delivers even in small towns like the one I grew up in. Chinese was eat-in only. Though I do think it's more likely to represent more of the food groups (as most dishes include meat or tofu, plus vegetables, plus rice), and the point about not needing to repackage your leftovers is a good one.
Also, I have read that pizza boxes aren't recyclable for the most part, because paper with ANY food or grease soiling it can't be recycled - the process they'd have to use to clean the paper would destroy it. Anyone know if that's true?
producestories at 8:44AM on 03/22/08
Okay, this comes from a totally different perspective, but I have travelled to some very remote places, many of which has only minimal cleaning faciltiies and the food available was questionable at best. However, I have managed to aoivd traveler's "issues" by eating what I really do consider to be the two most convenient foods in the world - oranges and bananas. Frankly, I don't even like oranges (although strangely enough, I like anything that tastes like orange - go figure). but, since they don't require cooking, are readily available almost anywhere in the world, and are essentially uncontaminated, since you have to remove to outer layer to get to the edible portion, they provide the safest foods to eat in some fairly odd locations, like Papua New Guinea...and downtown Philadelphia on a holiday when everything is closed...
Traveller at 12:11PM on 03/22/08
Most of the national pizza chains use perforated boxes in my town, so it's pretty easy to dissemble the box into pieces that are manageable for my wastebasket.
I think pizza is more convenient than Chinese takeout, although the upside to Chinese is that all of the ones around here offer free delivery while pizza places continue escalating their delivery fees. Pizza requires no dishes (a good paper towel works great if you need to put it on something) and no utensils. As mentioned, pizza can be ordered online, and if you are in the mood for something different, you can peruse the pizza offerings online rather than bemoan the fact that the Chinese takeout menu was accidentally thrown away. Pizza places usually offer later delivery hours. Pizza is customizable to accommodate the tastes of more than one person. For instance, if two people order Kung Pao Beef, they both have to like it the same way unless you have a very sympathetic place that will split one order of Kung Pao into two containers (one for the regular portion and one for the 'extra spicy' portion). With a pizza, two people can have it exactly as they both want it by ordering one half with one person's favorite toppings and one half with the other person's favorite toppings. (Okay, that's not the case if the two people like different types of crust but it's still more customizable.)
MelsDiner at 3:30PM on 03/22/08
Chinese take-out or delivery definitely travels better. 10 minutes or more in a box or one of those #%+*&$@# vinyl, zippered, delivery pouches and you can kiss a decent crust (if it had one to begin with) adios.
grampart at 5:02PM on 03/22/08
Welcome a-board, anthony! Always nice to have new peeps. Stick around awhile, and you'll either love us or get totally sick of us!
Between pizza and chinese, I'd say pizza. No utensils, no plates, very few choices to be made... and way, way cheaper, to boot. At least where I live.
Sadly, we can't get a decent pizza delivered -- actually, decent pizza is just a major challenge around here, period -- but we can get adequate (not great, just tolerable) chinese food delivered very quickly. But, chinese food definitely costs more, and they also charge for more for delivery.
All in all, if I could get either one delivered in forms that I found equally palatable, I'd still say pizza is more convenient. Just can't beat no plates, no utensils in my book (yes, I'm the one who does the dishes).
LoCo at 11:01PM on 03/22/08
Anthonyg posted the same thing over on chow.com....its getting pretty heated. Somewhere close to 100 responses and much ado about my proclomation of refusing to eat anything but a square of pizza out of a sheet of pizza.
Potatoes seemed to be an issue as well.
www.wedgewoodpizza.com
ChelleyD01 at 8:33PM on 03/23/08
I'd say pizza is more convenient in the way that it's not just easy to order, it's easy to make! So simple, yet so genius and delicious.
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 5:05PM on 03/25/08
Pizza!! Definitely, because you only have to decide on toppings, and you can always split it if people disagree! And with chinese food, even if you're strictly a lo mein and fried rice person, like me, you might be in a general gao's mood, or a scallion pancake mood, or a sesame chicken mood! The possibilities are too endless.
embolini9 at 12:49PM on 04/04/08