World Pizza Games stretch dough to limit
A lot of dough was thrown around at the World Pizza Games held this week in Las Vegas.
Part of the International Pizza Expo, easily one of the tastier events hosted by the Las Vegas Convention Center in recent memory, the games are what they say they are.
"Our champions are world champs," said Siler Chapman. "They’re certified, and the competitors come from all over the world. They come from Japan, Italy, France and other places."
And the other dough — the kind that isn’t used to make pizza — is serious: The winner in each category claims a $10,000 prize.
They come ready to compete.
Chapman, one of five organizers of the games, hails from North Carolina, a place not exactly known for pizza.
"That’s what chef Mario Batali said when we were on his show on The Food Network," said Chapman, a three-time world gold medalist in acrobatic pizza tossing who has competed across the globe, including Italy.
The "we" he speaks of are members of competing teams on the episode, which was billed as a pizza battle.
Chapman, Ted Rowe, nine-time world champ Tony Gemignani, Joe Calucci and Michael Shepherd organized the World Pizza Games.
All own pizzerias and all are past world champions in the acrobatic and creative art of tossing pies.
Chapman, without a hint of irony, referred to the organizers as "the five families." He owns six pizzerias in the Carolinas.
Ohio was well-represented Wednesday during the Largest Dough Stretch Finals, where competitors tossed dough back and forth using their forearms to stretch pies that probably wouldn’t fit in any brick oven.
Flour was conspicuous on the red carpeting in front of the stage, as competitors tossed, flipped, stretched and spun pies that started small but quickly grew to an impressive diameter.
"I could have done better," said Brittany Rowe of Michael Angelo’s Pizza in Kenton , Ohio, which is owned by Shepherd.
Rowe is making a comeback of sorts. After competing a few years ago and winning second-place in a New York City contest, she stopped tossing pizza dough and started tossing diapers.
"I had to stop and have my kids," she said.
Rowe was the only woman to make the finals, but she was not pleased with her performance.
The guy who made his dough stretch the most is Patt Miller, with a diameter of 29¾ inches.
Miller, 23, owner of two pizzerias in Columbus, Ohio, said he got his start in competitive pizza tossing by accident when he was 15.
"I started just for fun," he said. "It was for the holiday party at the pizza place where I worked. I watched some videos and just did it. Now people watch my videos."
By the end of the qualifying rounds, Miller had won the largest stretch and had qualified for the finals in freestyle acrobatic dough tossing, fastest dough, and longest spin.
The winners were not announced until late Wednesday.
Contact Doug McMurdo at dmcmurdo@reviewjournal. com or 702-224-5512.
