Would You Like Fries With That?

Even if you hate Italian food, you have to admit that Italy's culinary heritage is a thing of wonder; after all, it brought the world balsamic vinegar and bruschetta. Cappuccino and chianti. Limoncello and lasagna. Mozzarella and macaroni. Penne and parmesan. Risotto and rigatoni. Zuppa and ziti.

And of course, pizza: pizza marinara, margherita, alla napoletana, siciliana, romana, pugliese, capricciosa, quattro stagioni, ai quattro fromaggi, and ai funghi. Capers and anchovies, sausage and mushrooms, olives and boiled egg - it's all there on a thin crust and topped with fresh mozzerella. Yum! (- not the boiled egg though.)

Oh! - and French fries.

French fries? Indeed. Because Mr. This Cat's (Not) Abroad and myself were a little green around the gills today (thanks primarily to one of Italy's culinary legacies: cheap red wine), we sought out grease to sop up whatever had metamorphosed from that cheap red wine in our stomachs overnight. Being in Italy, the logical choice was pizza. And as we waited for our slices to be heated, I spied with my little eye something that was, well, odd. Odd bordering on disturbing. It was a French fry pizza.

Now, I did a little research on the French Fry Pizza - admittedly using Google as my scholarly resource of choice - and all I could find was one reference to it with an accompanying photo which I stole borrowed. This particular pizza was born and bred in Italy as well but perhaps because this pizza hailed from Sicily - and food here is nothing if not regional - it was slightly different from the one I saw today. The fries in the Veneto version were nestled under the top layer of melted cheese, rather than under. Ah, the joys of Italian cuisine.

Did I mention that I wanted to hurl?