Everyone Loves Pizza

Just like in the US, kids in France love pizza.  Grownups do too.

Today in Saline Les Bains, I stopped to have a Pizza with my new friend Camille.

Camille works at the Real Pizza shop at 26 Rue Gambetta in Salins Les Bains.

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If Salins Les Bains (SAH LEEN LAY BAHN) sounds funny to you, it's kind of funny in French, too.  It means "Salt Bath!"

Almost a thousand years ago, the Romans began mining salt in this area.  They found the salty water very healthy for taking baths and established a colony in Southern France to mine the salt and send it all over the Roman Empire.
Roman Baths

Of course, while some Romans enjoyed the baths, other people had to work very hard to mine the salt.  It is hard work to mine salt and that is why we sometimes say:  "Back to the salt mines..." when we go back to our jobs.

Salt was for more than taking baths, it was very important for people to preserve food as well.  Even after the Romans left Salins Les Bains, others took over the salt mining.  You need salt to preserve meat (especially before people had refrigerators) and it just makes food taste better.  Next time try your French Fries without salt and you will see what I mean!

So many, many people come to Salins Les Bains to see the historic salt mines and the fortresses made to protect them.  There are also still salt baths here for those that want to relax and get clean the Roman way.

And when they come to Salins, Camille makes them pizza in her little shop on the side of the road.  She makes the pizza dough early in the morning and when she gets to work in the afternoon she has a special oven that slides the pizzas through one at a time on a conveyor belt.

First, she smashes the dough by hand and rolls it into a perfect circle.  This is really hard and takes a lot of practice.  Then, she adds ingredients that you order.  Most are the same as you would find in the US, like cheese, peppers, onions and tomato sauce.  But there are some very strange and special French items too:  like POTATOES!

Once the pizza has it's toppings, it goes on to the pizza conveyor:

The pizza goes slowly through the oven, cooking as it moves along.  It makes you SO hungry to see the pizza moving along into the oven and smell the wonderful smells as it cooks.

Pretty soon, it comes out the other side and its all baked and ready to eat.  Camille has picnic tables where you can sit and eat right away.

All around the world, people love pizza.  Even the Romans brought pizza with them when they came to Salins!  And I'm lucky they did.

Maybe someday you can come to Salins and visit the salt mines and baths and get a pizza from Camille, but you don't have to wait.  You can make pizza at home with your mom or dad.  Maybe even the babysitter will work with you because it's a lot of fun to make your own pizza.  If you have a bread machine, it's really easy.  Make some bread dough and spread it out thin.  Put it on a baking pan and brush it with a little oil.  Make some pock-marks all over the pizza with a fork.  You can also buy pizza dough at the grocery.  Now, an adult should bake it in a 425 degree oven for about 5 minutes.

Pizza dough recipe:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 oz fresh yeast
• 2 cups water
• ¾ oz salt
• ⅜ oz sugar

Have the adult take it out of the oven and add fresh ingredients.  You can add whatever you want, and it's best to add something local so you can make it "yours."

Romans like:
Tomato sauce, Anchovies, 12 mo. aged Compte Cheese, Toasted Pine Nuts, Basil.

You may also want to try:
Proscutti ham, onions, peppers, olives, pesto sauce, spinach, capers, artichoke hearts, mozzarella or Gorgonzola cheese  (Ned the dog likes his with Double Marmot.)

Then the adult just pops it back in the oven and waits 5-7 minutes and you just have to let it cool.

Making your own pizza is more fun and better than ordering out because you get to choose what you want on your pizza and you get to help make it, too.

It seems like all around the world, everyone loves pizza.  Thank goodness for people like Camille that keep up a tradition that has been around since Roman times.