PIZZA'S STARLIGHT EXPRESS
Claim To Greatness
When people discuss the greatest inventions of the 21st century, they invariably throw into the mix such things as smart phones, 3D printing and blockchain technology but for me, there's simply no contest.
It has to be the Chadwick Pizza oven.
Maybe I'm inherently biased as I live close to the creator of this transcendent object and feel some sense of local pride in it being conceived near to me in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Surely there can be no shame in that, though? I'm pretty sure natives of Anchiano, Italy, feel and have felt the same way about DeVinci and his masterpieces as well as those from Ohio in America about Thomas Edison.
Inevitably, I will be accused of overstating the oven's importance in light of seemingly more essential innovations for humanity but hear me out and I will try my best to make the most convincing case that I possibly can so there will be no doubt as to the vital necessity of this genius object in everyone's lives.
Arrival
When Homo erectus first discovered fire, perhaps he dreamt of some future abstract notion for what the ultimate purpose of its flame would help serve. Little would he have known back then that one million years later its most significant use would be heating the stone plate of a Chadwick oven, enabling those in possession of the chrome orb to recreate the authenticity of Italian Pizza wherever there was a hob and a flame across the globe.
Visually, it arrives in the home like some hybrid spaceship, seemingly part-inspired by Star Wars' Millennium Falcon and the Trimaxion Drone Ship in Disney's 'Flight Of The Navigator' but with an overall cleaner Kubrick, '2001' aesthetic and just a dash of James Cameron's 'Terminator 2' with the T-1000's liquid metal appearance.
Functionality is the key to understanding why the Chadwick oven is so special. Every one of its few components serves both form and function and possesses that most elusive quality - longevity. So far in my experience, it appears to have no in-built planned obsolescence and only seems to grow in robust steadfastness to the business of delivering authentic, fresh pizzas fast and hot for the home and beyond.
Take Off
There is something both activistic and futuristic about the way the oven sits on the hob as it heats up to 500% celsius in approximately twelve minutes. It is the kitchen equivalent of watching a supersonic plane make its ascent from zero to mach 2. Suddenly thoughts of Sam Shepherd in 'The Right Stuff' or Tom Cruise in 'Top Gun' come to mind and I'm now wondering how I'm comparing a pizza oven to aviation but such is the wonder of the Chadwick Oven that it inspires these unlikely connections in your mind. I almost half expect future aircraft to be built in the style of these iconic ovens. Pizzas at 35,000 feet anyone?
Construction And Delivery
Within the first few attempts at making fresh dough yourself to cut up into little dough balls and roll out, you quickly advance from novice to fully fledged Pizzaiolo (at least in your own head).
Spreading passata onto your dough canvas, you can then set about adding infinite variations of toppings and idiosyncratic combinations of your own to create your ideal perfect pizza. My personal favourite includes thai chillis, black olives, chorizo with mushrooms, mozzarella and blobs of marscapone. Of course, I always have to pay homage to Paulie in 'Goodfellas' (1990) by slicing some garlic to add to the assemblage of ingredients. But everyone has their own favourites and you can embellish or improvise according to what you have already available in your fridge and cupboards.
I would also recommend blasting some Giuseppe Di Stefano or Italian opera (Donizetti, Verdi or Puccini) whilst preparing and cooking your pizzas. It undoubtedly enhances the taste in some atmospheric way I can't really explain.
And whether it be for two people or a dinner party crowd, the pizza oven invites a certain sociability as people watch you making them as if it's some sort of spectator sport. Many times I've felt like the pizza equivalent of Tom Cruise in 'Cocktail' (1988). You can cook a pizza on a 3 minute rotation, which in itself becomes a sort of unique form of magic/party trick, like spinning plates but with pizzas.
Summary
The greatest compliment I've had yet to date was one time when a friend of mine had been to Florence for a holiday and I asked him how the pizzas were. "Not as good as yours," he replied grumpily. But in all humility I always give credit where credit is due to the oven itself.
Ultimately, the Chadwick pizza oven is all about creating memories, those precious times with family or friends where the timeless tradition of bonding over food returns us to our basic humanity, that of sharing. By being able to deliver such a high output at such a high quality, you can keep the pizza party going for as long as you're enjoying the role playing of the part of an elite pizza chef such as Michele Pascarella or Franco Pepe.
I can't even remember the last time I felt tempted to have a pizza at a restaurant or from a takeaway, so completely autonomous in my pizzeria fiefdom am I now.
This is why, for me, the Chadwick pizza oven is the greatest invention (so far) of the 21st Century.