I’ve eaten pizza for over 30 years, 1/3rd of which was in the pizza capital of the world. I’ve tried every kind of pizza I’ve ever come across, and across the price spectrum. And while I wouldn’t claim to be the foremost pizza expert of the world, I’ve put in my 10,000 hours of pizza time to claim expert status at minimum. I’ve eaten pizzas from around the world, and would put my pizza eating credentials up against anyone.
What makes something a “real pizza” is a combination of things. From cooking methodology, to dough creation, crust type to topping selection. At some points a “pizza” becomes a flat bread, a pie, a casserole, a stromboli or a calzone.
Pizza is a defined as food created with a flat base of leavened dough, typically wheat, topped with a sauce, which is then topped with other various ingredients of which most typically includes cheese.