How Pizza Came to Queens

  • last week
by Dayal Kaur Khalsa
Transcript
00:00How pizza came to Queens.
00:13By Dale Cowar Carlsa.
00:16For Guru Nanak, Guru Amar Das.
00:19And Harry Amrit Cowar.
00:21Long ago, before there were pizza stands and pizzerias and frozen pizza and pizza mixes
00:27there was hardly anything good to eat in May's town.
00:31A hungry child asking for a snack might he handed a grape jelly sandwich or some cookies
00:37or a pretzel stick.
00:39There was no such thing as pizza.
00:42But all that changed when Mrs. Pellegrino came to visit.
00:46May's best friends were three sisters, Linda Judy and Peggy Penny.
00:52She played with them all the time.
00:55One summer, when May's parents went away on vacation she stayed at the Pennys' house.
01:01One day Mrs. Penny told May that a distant cousin whom she had never met was coming from
01:07Italy for a visit.
01:09She said she thought Mrs. Pellegrino didn't speak much English.
01:14Mrs. Pellegrino arrived in a taxi.
01:17She was clutching a strangely shaped green package very tightly to her chest.
01:23May and Linda thought it was a present.
01:26But when they reached to take it from her.
01:29Mrs. Pellegrino drew back sharply and snapped, you no touch.
01:34She marched into the house and went straight into the kitchen.
01:39She sniffed in long and deep several times in every direction.
01:44Then she frowned and muttered, is no good.
01:47Did the house smell bad?
01:50May and Linda and Judy and Peggy all sniffed in deeply, but the kitchen smelled all right
01:55to them.
01:56She might just need a little time to adjust to the change.
02:01Mrs. Penny told the girls.
02:03Let's lease her along for a while.
02:05She took Mrs. Pellegrino into the dining room and brought her a cup of tea.
02:11May and Linda watched her from the kitchen doorway.
02:14May whispered in Linda's ear, I don't think it was a real present anyway, the boughs are
02:19too little.
02:21Actually, it looked like a big green towel all rolled up.
02:25Even after she drank her tea, Mrs. Pellegrino still looked unhappy.
02:31Every once in a while she lifted her nose in the air and inhaled deeply.
02:36She patted her strange green package and sighed sadly, no pizza.
02:42Pizza.
02:43May and Linda looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.
02:47They had no idea what she meant.
02:50Neither did Mrs. Penny.
02:53None of them had ever heard the word pizza before.
02:56The only Italian words they knew were spaghetti macaroni and lasagna.
03:02They couldn't even ask Mrs. Pellegrino what was the matter.
03:06And Mrs. Pellegrino didn't speak enough English to tell them.
03:11Mrs. Penny took Mrs. Pellegrino up to her room and tried to make her as comfortable
03:15as possible.
03:17Judy and Peggy carried her suitcases upstairs, but when May and Linda tried to carry her
03:23green package, once again Mrs. Pellegrino clasped it to her chest and warned, no touch.
03:30They didn't think they were going to enjoy Mrs. Pellegrino's visit very much.
03:36When Mrs. Penny came back downstairs she said, I wonder who pizza is.
03:42Mrs. Pellegrino seems to miss her very much.
03:46Maybe it's her daughter.
03:48Or her dog, said Judy.
03:51We could buy her one.
03:53Suggested May.
03:55Maybe it's a kind of flower.
03:57Said Linda.
03:59But Peggy thought perhaps pizza was the name of the town in Italy where she lived.
04:04Well, whoever or whoever pizza is.
04:08Said Mrs. Penny.
04:10Mrs. Pellegrino is our guest and we must all try to make her visit as happy as we can.
04:16It wasn't easy.
04:18The girls put on a special play with a very happy ending to try to cheer her up.
04:24And while Mrs. Pellegrino seemed to enjoy it and clapped loudly by supper time she was
04:29her old sad self again.
04:32They pooled all their allowances and took her out to eat at their favorite restaurant.
04:38When she walked in, Mrs. Pellegrino sniffled in deeply and actually smiled.
04:44May and Linda and Judy and Peggy were so relieved.
04:48But when the waitress brought their grilled cheese sandwiches, Mrs. Pellegrino looked
04:53down at the little toasted squares and shook her head mournfully.
04:57No pizza.
04:59They tried hard to think of new ways to make her happy.
05:03May and Linda even did what they did whenever they had a fight and were feeling had afterwards.
05:10They took all their toys and put them together in one huge display in the yard.
05:15This always made them feel very happy.
05:19But while Mrs. Pellegrino looked carefully at every toy saying nice nice they could tell
05:24she still wasn't really happy deep inside.
05:27Mrs. Pellegrino was also trying hard to be happy.
05:32She took part in all their games.
05:35Whenever Mrs. Penny went shopping she let May and Linda take the groceries into their
05:40play store.
05:42Then she would come with pennies and buy back everything she needed to make supper.
05:47Mrs. Pellegrino liked this game a lot.
05:50In the evenings she brought then milk and pretzels and watched them chase fireflies.
05:56But the only time Mrs. Pellegrino seemed to really cheer up was when she was cooking.
06:03Somehow the gentle bubbling of tomato sauce soothed her spirits.
06:08Fortunately they all loved spaghetti.
06:10I could eat spaghetti even for breakfast.
06:14Said May.
06:16Despite everyone's best efforts still Mrs. Pellegrino would sniff in deeply now and then
06:21and the old sadness would be upon her again.
06:24The girls had grown very fond of Mrs. Pellegrino.
06:28They wanted to make her really happy at least once before she had to leave.
06:34The key seemed to be connected to the word pizza.
06:38If only they could find out what it meant.
06:41May had an idea where they could try.
06:44They went to the library.
06:46The librarian helped them look it up in the dictionary, pizza, pezza, n, an Italian baked
06:53dish consisting of a shallow pie-like crust covered usually with a spiced mixture of tomatoes
06:59and cheese.
07:01Pie-like.
07:02With tomatoes, said Peggy.
07:05Judy suggested they look in a cookbook.
07:09They had to look in a lot of cookbooks before they finally found one with a recipe for pizza
07:14pie.
07:15Peggy copied out the list of ingredients, yeast flour tomato paste mozzarella cheese
07:21parmesan cheese olive oil garlic oregano and pepper.
07:25It sure doesn't sound like pie to me.
07:29Said May.
07:30Yuck.
07:32Said Linda.
07:33They all agreed it sounded terrible.
07:36But if it would make Mrs. Pellegrino happy they would try anything.
07:41The next day they went shopping and bought everything on the list.
07:46Mrs. Pellegrino knocked on the wall of their play store.
07:50What you got for me today, she asked.
07:53May and Linda began handing her the things they had bought.
07:57With each item her smile grew bigger.
08:00By the time they gave her the garlic.
08:03Mrs. Pellegrino was beaming.
08:06Pizza, she cried joyfully.
08:09She cradled the ingredients in her arms and hurried into the house.
08:14She looked very very happy.
08:17Mrs. Pellegrino brought her strangely shaped green package down to the kitchen and put
08:22it on the table.
08:24May and Linda still hoped it might be a present.
08:28She unwrapped it carefully.
08:30It was a rolling.
08:32Mrs. Pellegrino smiled at it like an old friend.
08:36May and Linda frowned.
08:38No be sad.
08:40Said Mrs. Pellegrino.
08:43We make pizza.
08:45She showed them how to make dough and then roll it out into a circle with the rolling
08:49pin.
08:51Then she taught them how to throw the dough high in the air to stretch it, she spread
08:55tomato sauce on each big circle and the girls sprinkled them with cheese.
09:00As the pizza baked and the cheese began to bubble, the whole house was filled with the
09:05most wonderful smell they had ever smelled.
09:09It smelled as good as toast and french fries and ketchup and grilled cheese sandwiches
09:14and spaghetti all rolled into one.
09:17They sniffed in long and deep.
09:20Mrs. Penny came into the kitchen.
09:23What is that delicious smell, she asked.
09:26It's pizza, they cried.
09:29When the pizza was done, they had a party.
09:32May called her grandma to come over and the mailman who happened to be delivering the
09:37mail just then joined in.
09:40Everyone thought pizza was the best thing they ever tasted.
09:44Mrs. Pellegrino was very happy.
09:47Our pizza.
09:48Is good no, she said proudly.
09:51Yes, they all yelled.
09:54And that's how pizza came to Queens.
09:57After that, Mrs. Pellegrino was happy all the time.
10:02She made pizza every day.
10:05Everyone said Mrs. Pellegrino was the best guest they had ever met.
10:09The whole neighborhood smelled wonderful.
10:12The time soon came for Mrs. Pellegrino to home to Italy.
10:17On her last day, May and Linda and Judy and Peggy decided it was their turn to cook for
10:22Mrs. Pellegrino.
10:25They made her toast and jelly and served her breakfast in bed.
10:30Everyone was sad to see Mrs. Pellegrino go.
10:33They made her promise to come back again next year.
10:37It mean a while.
10:39Said May, every time we have pizza, we'll think of you.
10:44The end.