You have just had a long day at the office and you get one of those cravings for Italian food. You pop into your local Delitraiteur to see what you can hastily muster up for dinner – you’re tired and the last thing you want to do is slave over a hot stove. A sleek modern black box stands out: Mamma Roma’s Pizza Mia. Stricken with hunger pains, you seize the box, put it in your basket, pay and rush home.
Settled in your kitchen, you read the instructions on the box and realize that this store-bought pizza is not your average frozen disk. Inside the box lie fresh ingredients waiting to be assembled by your own hands. Pizza Mia gives you the opportunity to become head chef in your own kitchen (with precise ingredients measured out to ensure a fail-proof result).
First, you begin by pouring a secret gorgonzola sauce over fresh mozzarella and delicately sliced pears lying on a bed of authentic dough alla Romana. Next, you top it off with tangy arugula and a handful of walnuts, and voila! Your masterpiece goes into the oven. Ten minutes later you find yourself in front of a homemade pizza large enough to share – though, you must really love this person if you’re going to give up a slice.
Though Mamma Roma is a thoroughly Belgian pizza company it imports its ingredients from Italy. In 2005 young chef, Anthony Coopmans began his journey to modernize the world of pizza and restore the Italian dish’s reputation through new flavours and creativity. The idea of Mamma Roma was inspired by the six years he spent in Rome working in Italian starred restaurants – and that’s where he discovered the Roman ‘pizza al taglio’ – pizza by the slice, Roman style. The pizza al taglio’s base mixture that is allowed three days to rise, making for a delicious light and crispy crust, topped off with wonderful sauces and rich garnishes.
Coopmans opened the first Mamma Roma pizzeria in Brussels seven years ago, and now there are seven in Brussels and Waterloo. More pizzerias will be opening in Flanders and Wallonia within the coming months, and the firm is also expanding internationally with five restaurants in Paris and London in early November.
Pizza Mia is a range of ultra fresh pizzas with a current range of five pizzas combinations: Buffalo mozzarella, eggplant pesto, bacon truffle, 4 cheeses, and pear gorgonzola.
