Despite its unhealthy reputation, pizza is still among the most consumed dishes in the world: 30 billion pizzas are consumed each year - that’s 951 each second! (Majoube pour LExpress.fr, 2021) Pizza is perfect for innovation: it’s easy to try out new healthier toppings and/or dough recipes without changing the pizza base!
It’s therefore unsurprising that pizzas with fewer calories or less fat have become more popular. Thanks to Emma Fontanella, an American food influencer, you now have everything you need to make a pizza with less than 50 calories a slice. This is quite the feat considering a traditional slice of pizza has around 180 calories. To achieve these results, she adds baking soda to her dough to make it lighter and fluffier! You can also use tomato sauce without sugar and roll your pizza dough out as thinly as possible. Another tip from Maestrella: use mozzarella with 40% fat instead of 47% to reduce the amount of fat!
Whether it’s for health reasons or a specific diet, more and more people are choosing gluten-free options: between 2016 and 2021, the international gluten-free market has grown 11.6% in value (Businesscoot, 2020). However, pizza remains a real challenge for those who do not eat gluten: think about a pizza without crust! It’s impossible to imagine. This is why in 2016, while trying to solve this problem, an American mom created Caulipower, a company specialising in plant-based alternatives for pasta, rice, bread, tortillas and even pizza dough! The company offers a crust made from cauliflower. This pizza crust does not contain any gluten and is antioxidant, phytonutrient, vitamin and omega 3 rich. It also has more fiber and protein than traditional pizzas or other gluten-free options available. It’s a great way to make your meal healthier!
Another challenge that home pizza makers face is lactose intolerance. Since so much cheese is used on pizzas, lactose presents a real problem for a lot of people: 75% of the world population is intolerant! (Gaubert, 2017) It is unthinkable for us to serve a pizza without cheese which is why we offer mozzarellas that are naturally lactose-free. During the fermentation process of the cow milk, the lactose is digested by an enzyme called ‘lactase’. Maestrella also offers a large selection of forms of mozzarella (shredded, diced) as well as fat content (40%, 45% or 47%) in order to ensure that you always have melty mozzarella cheese covering your pizza!
In addition to pizza crust, toppings are evolving as well. It is estimated that 6 to 10% of the European population is vegetarian or vegan (European Data Journalism Network, 2019). This is why vegetarian or vegan pizzas are popping up on restaurant menus and have become just as common as the Margherita.
If you are in need of inspiration, Maestrella has several recipes adapted to these diets! Download your recipe.