According to the New York Times, “INDISCRIMINATE gluttons and discerning gourmands alike have long been crazy for pizza. But over the last few years, they have elevated their passion to a vocation, sending pizza into a whole new stratosphere of respect. It isn’t just loved, and it isn’t just devoured. It’s scrutinized and fetishized, with a Palin-esque power to polarize.”

“Does a wood-burning brick oven yield more flavorful crusts than a coal-burning one? Which flour lends the most character to dough? Is buffalo-milk mozzarella a silky blessing or watery curse? On such questions the most durable of friendships have foundered and the most principled of pizza makers — pizzaioli, they are now called — part company.” “We’ve gotten all of a sudden into this ‘authentic’ scenario,” said Michael Ayoub, owner of Fornino, a pizzeria in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, referring to the expanding legions of self-regarding artisans around town. “The only thing they haven’t brought over is the water from that polluted Bay of Naples.”