Fractal Pizza
By kmikeym from June 13, 2006
People are so skeptical. When I first announced my plan to build a Fractal Pizza I was called crazy, insane, and most hurtful of all, "a hopeless romantic with delusions of being a real scientist." But much like my scientific heroes Orville Redenbacher, Wylie Dufresne, and the often ridiculed Grace Hopper, I too persevered. The thing we all share is a desire to make our dreams come true, no matter what people say.
It is with great pleasure and pride that I present to you the world's first fully-edible Fractal Pizza:
How was this scientific impossibility made? Well, I have to thank Willow who really came through with some critical and creative thinking in clutch moments. Also, I know the original idea came about at work, so I'd like to dedicate this gastronomic monument to my co-workers.
The idea was simple, as are most truly genius moments. When looking at a pizza I noticed that you had bread, sauce, cheese and toppings. The toppings struck me as interesting. No matter what you put on top of the bread, sauce, and cheese you still had pizza. Initially I had the same thoughts of the many pizza innovators that have gone before me, 'What is the craziest thing I could put on pizza!??'
It was my love of the term "meta" that turned me on to the idea. What is the craziest thing to put on pizza? Well, what about more pizza!??! I almost dismissed the idea initially, as I have eaten pizza with two crusts, and even stacked slices on top of each other... but I couldn't let go of the idea of a meta-pizza and then while wandering the frozen food aisle of my local grocery store it was like Newton's apple hit me on the head and said, "The pizza comes in a wide variety of sizes." Eureka!
The pizza is made from a base layer of crust covered in sauce, then topped with smaller english muffin pizzas that are topped with corn chip tortilla pizzas. For this first experiment we kept things relatively simple with only pepperoni and olives as toppings (on the toppings). But each layer has it's own layer of cheese, sauce, olives, and pepperoni.
At the end of the day this is only the beginning. This is but a pizza made up of little pizzas topped with little pizzas. That is only three levels of pizza. I think I can take it farther. I want to make the "Charles and Ray Eames Factor of Ten" Pizza, with 10 smaller and smaller levels of pizza. To paraphrase that plucky American revolutionary John Paul Jones, "I have not yet begun to make meta-pizza."
<< | Posted on June 13, 2006 at 11:22 AM | >>
What if instead of smaller and smaller components you stacked similar-sized pizzas, then sliced the whole thing into wedges like a layer cake? Pizza cake!
Posted by Momcat @ June 13, 2006 8:58 PM
A quick note on the toppings:
The pepperoni was vegetarian. And it was good.
Posted by willow @ June 14, 2006 11:50 AM
Do you ever remember Golden Crust Pizza in Old Town? They used to make this awesome pizza that was (from bottom): crust, sauce, toppings, crust, sauce, cheese, toppings.
So only one layer of cheese, but still essentially two pizzas. The lower layer of sauce and toppings were very thing compared to the top layer, but still... it was tasty!
Posted by no one in particular @ June 14, 2006 11:55 AM
i'm absolutely tingling about this incredible application of biomimicry. makes me want to make a fractal dessert pizza...i think this may lead to some insane wedding culinary masterpieces...
Posted by ashby @ June 14, 2006 4:10 PM
This is the wormhole ive been looking for. Where heaven meets earth. Thank you mike and willow for the adventure of a lifetime. My inner pizza is at peace.
Posted by jared @ June 14, 2006 4:27 PM
beautiful! I found some theoretical fractal pizzas to share:
http://pcba10.ba.infn.it/images/pizza.jpg
http://www.parkenet.org/jp/challenges/pizzapiazza.jpg
And this one doesn't seem so fractalesc, but hell it was quilted!
http://www.waterfordquiltersguild.com/l-sons-pizza-hi-res.html
Posted by michael bunsen @ June 14, 2006 7:51 PM
YES! Nice work! QUILTED! That is awesome.
Truly fractal pizza... I am humbled.
Posted by Mikey @ June 14, 2006 8:35 PM
you know what I love cheese pizza its a very tasty yummy.........
Posted by Sandhya @ February 3, 2007 3:40 AM
You can take this farther.
Pizza topped with bagel pizzas topped with english muffin pizzas topped with mini bagel pizzas topped with nacho chip pizzas topped with bacon*.
*Everything is better with bacon.
Posted by t3knomanser @ April 10, 2008 1:38 PM
Your fractal pizza-ing is commendable, but unfortunately your pizza isn't a true fractal -- true fractals are scale-free, that is, they have the same scaling relation on each scale. Putting one tortilla chip on top of a single English muffin does not cut it.
Posted by Stephan @ April 10, 2008 5:10 PM
Good point Stephan!
This was mostly just a proof of concept, but it's something I have been wanting to try again.
Posted by Mikey @ April 10, 2008 5:15 PM
your wallpaper looks like the tile wall in my old high school locker room. despite that, i like it.
Posted by ithilien @ April 10, 2008 8:55 PM
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Oh Mike, what a triumph!
Posted by freddy @ June 13, 2006 1:01 PM