Thank You All for a Memorable Year

Hi Everyone,

I think it’s safe to say that this was the craziest year many of us have ever known, from sublime to surreal. But at least here, on PizzaQuest, it has been a wonderful year, in many ways our best ever, and for this I want to say thanks to everyone who helped make it possible, including you, our followers, readers, and fellow pizza freaks.

One of the things I’m especially proud of this year was the addition of regular contributing Guest Columnists John Arena and Scott Wiener, and the ongoing work of PizzaQuest’s co-creator Brad English, whose passion fuels this project in a way that defies gravity. Also, this year we added a new feature, a series of informative and interesting interviews with people who I think truly exemplify the deeper purpose of PizzaQuest in its celebration of artisanship wherever we find it. We brought you interviews with authors like Craig Priebe (“The United States of Pizza”), Meathead Goldwyn (“The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling”), pizza champion Norma Knepp, the founders of “Bakers Without Borders,” and an amazing drill down on mezcal with Lou Bank, founder of SACRED (“Saving Agave for Culture, Recreation, Education, and Development”). We also posted a wonderful conversation with Albert Grande, founder of Pizza Therapy.com, and a fabulous interview with Daniel Young, author of “Where to Eat Pizza.”  All of these are available to you in the Peter’s Blog section of our archives and, if you haven’t already read them, I encourage you to do so. Also, our recent conversation with our own Scott Wiener about his Slice Out Hunger Project.  Like I said, there’s a lot here of which to be proud.

And this doesn’t even touch upon our Webisode team, Producer and Director Brad English and Producer Jeff Michael, editor Annette Aryanpour, Directors of Photography and Co-Directors David Wilson and Mark Dektor, and a whole slew of sound technicians and production assistants. I got to do the fun and easy part and they had the harder task of trying to make me look good. We have a whole new set of webisodes to bring you this year, many of them filmed at the Forno Bravo Expo in Salinas, California with a whole slew of talented chefs, authors, and fellow pizza fanatics, all thanks to our website partner Forno Bravo, led by Tim Cole, and his team-mates Mitch Clark and Alex Clark, without whom we would be dead in the water.  Thank you everyone!!!!

Lots more to come in 2017, so tell your friends and please keep checking back. We post new content every Tuesday, and, this year I hope to slip in a few golden oldies during the in-between times.

Here are a few photos from the past year, just for fun. May 2017 be joyful and less surreal, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a bumpy ride, so we’ll be here to remind you where the joy is found. Happy New Year!!!

Pizza Sbagliata, nice variation on the classic red, white, and green

Pizza party!

John Arena and pizza champion, Nino Coniglio

Flowering tepextate agave cactus

Brad’s meatball pizza, before…

…and after.

Scott, on tour, comparing slices.

A pizza box we’d all like to have!

Pizza and fire — does it get any better than this??

Bakers Without Borders, changing the world one loaf and one child at a time.