I haven't been arrested by Italian food cops yet so I'd say it's fine. Do whatever you want to food that makes it taste good to you because taste is a very subjective thing.
TBF, not only would that same Italian person you envision also die every time a "pizza" is made, (IRL, they're far hardier as a people) but I personally reached a similar point in my impression of "proper" sushi. 🤷🏽♂️ For decades now, I've looked down on cream cheese, et al, used as ingredients in rolls of all kinds. That eventually evolved into other disdainful opinions on adjacent foods' contents, but I've fairly recently discovered a simple fact: in its culture of origin, sushi is known to on occasion include ice cream as an ingredient.
Therefore? Such quixotic prescriptionism is worse than useless: it restricts access to experiences based on fabricated and imaginary rules (or, face the piercing judgment of... actually no one at all).
Fuck what "people" say. Engage with your wife's view, and maybe even join her in exploring what other curious ways one can enjoy weird shit. 🫀🖖🏽
Well, let's be real, pizza isn't some kind of holy thing that is only Italian.
It's not like they're the only people to ever put things on flat dough and bake it.
But ignoring that, food is a living thing, just like most languages, like music, like fashion and art. You can try to stick a pin in it, but you kill the thing by doing so.
It reaches a point where it's ludicrous to try and claim a thing is possessed in its entirety by the place that first named something.
Once a cultural idea spreads far enough, you can only specify one type of the thing. It's why we have champagne, and sparkling wine. It's a way of putting a pin in something but recognizing that there's still living versions out there.
Or, look at it like the difference between formal and colloquial language.
Pizza may have started in Italy as a term, but it's like kleenex and qtips. Pizza is now the generic term for stuff cooked on flat dough. It can even be applied to stuff being placed on flat bread, and then cooked, though I don't know why you'd not call it one of the other words for that idea other than being unaware of those words.
Put whatever you want on your dough, call it pizza, and enjoy ;)
As an italian my strong belief is that your wife should put whatever she wants on pizza. Hell it’s a flatbread with condiments, go crazy. It’s meant for it. If you want a none pizza with left meat, you should have a none pizza with left meat.
Now if you put ketchup on pasta, I will judge your culinary literacy. Ketchup makes for a terrible pasta sauce
Don't worry about what Italians think about how you eat pizza. Unless you are in Italy, however you are eating it is probably unappealing to most Italians no matter what you are putting on it, even in its base form with no modifications.
If you wanted pizza to be "italian", it would have to have no tomatoes, peppers, pepperoni, buffalo milk cheese, basil or a whole bunch of other ingredients that are commonly added to pizza.
Put whatever you want on a pizza, its a good delivery mechanism
I'm not a big hot sauce ON pizza kinda guy, but I dip the crust in something like secret aardvark. Buffalo chicken pizza is pretty popular and that's basically a hot sauce pizza.
My wife puts the nearest hot sauce on everything. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate spice, but she has no regard for the flavor profile of the sauce or the food. Maybe your wife's the same. I've been slowly trying to get her to pair her spice sources thoughtfully.
Tabasco is a sup-par hot sauce for most pizzas. Red pepper flakes are best in my opinion, and pack plenty of heat and flavor. I had some serrano basil sauces that went great with pizza, which I think could be expected with any sauce featuring basil. If you're feeling fancy, Truff goes great on pizza too. If you're going to do Tabasco, at least do the smokey chipotle.
Different sauces taste different, and pair differently with different foods. Some flavors synergize with a dish, some overpower it, and some clash. I wouldn't say regular Tabasco necessarily clashes with pizza, but I think it usually overpowers the other notes. There are more delicious choices.
You can do whatever you want to food, I wont stop you. Some would keep the gates closed to others; deeming this or that ingredient taboo. These people have never been to Naples, never had to make a frozen cheese pizza more palatable with canned peaches or starve to death. Hypocrites! Let them scoff, and weep at our scrambled egg sriracha breakfast pizza. They will never be happy like we are.
I never saw this until moving to Japan. Everywhere I've dined in with pizza gives tabasco. I tried it and I like it. Especially for vinegar-based or otherwise more acidic sauces, it cuts through the fattiness from the meats and cheese and brightens things up. I also like spicy things (we frequently do habanero hot sauce these days). I think maybe a splash of something like white wine vinegar might be nice if someone isn't into the heat.
Food is food. Do what you want to do to your food because you are eating it. Other people aren't eating it so they don't get a say. If most people saw what the original pizzas were they wouldn't recognize them and some wouldn't like them, including modern Italians.
Tabasco, in my opinion, is just like eating a pizza with peppers or a bunch of pepper flakes on it, or as I sometimes do, ground cayenne pepper.
I've made a Christmas dinner pizza with a stuffing and gravy stuffed crust. Just have fun with the food you eat. Why be boring and keep things "authentic"?
I like it spicy, but I can't stand the vinegar taste of Tabasco on pizza. In some restaurants you could request chilli oil, which suits my taste better.
Italians die regardless. If it tastes good, go your gang, live a little. I put mayonaise on my frozen pineapple/ham pizza. Best hangover breakfast ever.
I find it very tasty, however, I think hot sauce is adding more moisture to a food that's already pretty wet. I prefer red pepper flakes to balance this out. But she should do what she wants
I think that hot sauce on pizza is awesome and I have been doing it for years. My apologies if I am making their population decline, but I won't be stopped.
Restaurants here often have a spicy oil on the table that I’ve see plenty of Italians put on their pizza. I don’t see it as being all that different. However, if it was a hot sauce with any amount of pineapple and you’d get your Italian citizenship revoked. 😅
Depends on the pizza. If you are eating a traditional pizza just like mamma mia made back in the old country, skip the Tabasco.
If you're eating greasy sloppy pizza from a dirty little place called, "Joe's" load up that Tabasco and the chili flakes, and add some of that artificial Parmesan powder that comes in little packets!
Depends if it's good pizza or not. If you're talking a sauce heavy Italian/Boston style slice the Tabasco is a travesty... if it's some shitty NY slice the load that sucker up.
As a pineapple on pizza enjoyer I am not gonna judge, taste is subjective so no one but you decides what goes on your food. Honestly, this is how new recipes are made. If no one tried new variations then we wouldn't have most of our favorites!
Here’s my take: most countries outside of the US are lacking when it comes to condiments and sauces. It’s your food, dress it how you wish. One of my recent favorites for pizza is Bachan’s Original Japanese Bbq sauce
That sounds pretty good to me. Though I would prefer crushed peppers, jalapenos, or Salsa Yucateca, Tabasco is a little too sour. Why do you care? Are you literally gatekeeping her pizza?
I put Franks Red Hot on pizza all the time. It's no problem.
Pizza isn't owned by the Italians anyway. Many variants are decidedly American anyway, so it would be like a French person complaining about how the British cook a roast dinner.
She likes it, who cares? Enjoy what you want, and let others enjoy what they want. I don't like tabasco on pizza but I'm not going to get bent out of shape over someone doing that. If you are trying to MAKE something and you want that something to be as authentic as possible then sure, tabasco shouldn't be put on pizza. But you are eating. Eating is for enjoyment or sustenance . Not rules.
If you are eating pizza by italian standards, theres only 1 topping besides cheese on there, 2 if you are daring. I like to bend the rules when it comes to personal preference and I also put tabasco on pizza sometimes.