Inside Pizza by Ézéchiel Zérah — A Beautifully Crafted Celebration of Pizza Culture

When someone suggests pizza for dinner, do you think of your favourite toppings? Are you a purist who prefers classic flavours, or do you enjoy trying exotic options? Ézéchiel Zérah explores these questions in his book Pizza: Histoires – Reportages – Recettes. Accompanied by striking photographs from Jean-François Mallet and a talented team of artists, it delves into the origins and popularity of this beloved dish. Equal parts culinary culture, gastronomic travel, and recipes, Pizza: Histoires – Reportages – Recettes bridges the gap between a cookbook and a gourmet handbook. Here’s our review of this essential book for pizza enthusiasts.

©Éditions Flammarion

Introducing Pizza

Based in Marseille, Ézéchiel Zérah is a culinary journalist and the author of Marseille, un jour sans faim ! (Hachette, 2023), which offers a 25-hour edible journey through France’s second-largest city. He contributes articles to several publications, including: M Le magazine du Monde, Les Échos Week-End, and Libération. In addition to his writing, Zérah launched a newsletter called Pomelo and conducts food tours in Marseille when he is not exploring gourmet topics.

Published in October 2025 by Éditions Flammarion, Pizza: Histoires – Reportages – Recettes is a comprehensive French encyclopedia dedicated to the subject of pizza, spanning 320 pages. Much like pizza, this book is more enjoyable when shared with friends: it brings together a talented team of journalists, illustrators, graphic artists, and photographers who share a passion for pizza.

Zérah and the team take readers on a journey around the globe, visiting cities such as Naples, Tokyo, São Paulo, New York, and Marseille. In France’s second-largest city, pizza competes with soccer for fans’ loyalty and for its significance in the city’s cultural landscape.

Pizza the Book

Ézéchiel Zérah confesses that he became a pizza fan at an early age, devouring an entire pie with his younger brother from a local food truck when he was just nine. At 22, he published his first blog post about pizza. Since then, he and others have contributed hundreds of articles on the topic. His book, Pizza: Histoires – Reportages – Recettes, serves as a comprehensive “bible” on the subject and includes several sections:

• Savoir-Faire: covering vocabulary, key ingredients, regional variations, and pizza trucks
• Reportages: featuring a journey through pizza-loving capitals around the world
• Pop Culture: from chain restaurants, world records, and pizza’s representation in TV and film
• Recipes: offering over 50 different pizza varieties

Photo ©Jean-François Mallet – Calzone

Pizza Savior-Faire

To understand pizza, it’s essential to begin with the fundamentals. The classic Margherita pizza, named after Queen Margherita of Savoy, is a simple dish consisting of dough, tomato sauce, and mozzarella. If a pizza maker cannot master these basic elements, their overall pizza-making skills will likely suffer. This section highlights the key ingredients necessary for making pizza.

Photo ©Anne Demay

Like any subject, there are experts, and pizza is no different. In the pages of Pizza: Histoires – Reportages – Recettes, you meet some of the greatest pizza connoisseurs.

Ingredients are essential for pizza, but so are the right tools—mixers, rolling pins, cutting boards, pizza cutters, and more. Perhaps the most essential factor is cooking; if space and budget allow, the best results come from a pizza oven.

The pizza truck is especially noteworthy as it first appeared in Marseille during the early 1960s, suggesting that pizza represents a cultural phenomenon rather than just a food.

Photo ©Jean-François Mallet

Reporting on Pizza – Reportage

This section required significant dedication to compile interviews, illustrations, photos, and pizza sampling from around the globe. The book Pizza: Histoires – Reportages – Recettes begins in Naples, the original birthplace of pizza, and then moves to Rome, a city that fiercely competes on the Italian food scene. The coverage of Marseille highlights its pizza trucks. It features the iconic moitié-moitié version, which is a thin-crust pizza topped with half Emmental cheese and half anchovies, all set on a tomato sauce base.

The author Ézéchiel Zérah shared his belief, “La pizza n’est plus seulement un plat : c’est un pays, une langue, un terrain de jeu infini, hors ligne et en ligne.” (Translation: Pizza is no longer just a dish: it is a country, a language, an infinite playground, both offline and online.)

Pizza: Histoires – Reportages – Recettes features contributions from over 30 individuals. It offers a delightful blend of storytelling, history, and insights into pizza as a cultural phenomenon. The author describes pizza as a “plat total,” an unpretentious, global dish that requires no additional sides. Whether you’re ordering from a food truck, relaxing on the rocks by the Mediterranean, or dining at a restaurant, it seems that there are 30 different ways to enjoy pizza.

Photo ©Jean-François Mallet – Mushroom Pizza

Making Pizza – les Recettes

Choosing pizza toppings is a personal choice, and in the recipe section, you’re bound to find options that suit your taste. Ingredient choices include anchovies, pineapple, mushrooms, ham, cheese, asparagus, artichokes, shrimp, figs, and more. Pizza truly is like a blank canvas, ready for you to customize with your favourites.

Pizza: Histoires – Reportages – Recettes offers 50 recipes, including sweet options for dessert. Highlights include Pizza Marinara from Naples (tomato sauce, garlic, oregano), the classic Pizza Margherita (tomato, mozzarella, basil), and Pizza Blanche (dough, rosemary, olive oil, and sea salt), great for sharing with cocktails.

Should You Buy this Pizza Book?

Richly illustrated, Pizza: Histoires – Reportages – Recettes delivers precisely what the author promised in the introduction: “Il fallait pourtant un livre, un gros, car la pizza mérite sa <bible> en français.” This book, written in French, is dedicated entirely to pizza. Whether you’re looking for a gift for someone else or treating yourself, it serves as both a thematic cookbook and a beautiful coffee table book.

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Carolyne Kauser-Abbott

With her camera and laptop close at hand, Carolyne has traded in her business suits for the world of freelance writing and blogging. Her first airplane ride at six months of age was her introduction to the exciting world of travel.

While in Provence, Carolyne can be found hiking with friends, riding the hills around the Alpilles or tackling Mont Ventoux. Her attachment to the region resonates in Perfectly Provence this digital magazine that she launched in 2014. This website is an opportunity to explore the best of the Mediterranean lifestyle (food & wine, places to stay, expat stories, books on the region, travel tips, real estate tips and more), through our contributors' articles.

Carolyne writes a food and travel blog Ginger and Nutmeg. Carolyne’s freelance articles can be found in Global Living Magazine, Avenue Magazine and City Palate (Published Travel Articles).