When I first encountered deep dish pizza in Chicago, to be honest, I was a bit taken aback.

"How do you eat this...?"

It was clear that you couldn't just pick it up with your hands, the cheese was oozing, and you couldn't even see what was inside.

In Korea, pizza is usually something you pick up and eat a light slice of. In the end, I started eating it with a fork and knife in a battle stance.

My friend sitting next to me remarked, "Hey, this is like a lasagna in the pizza world."

As I started eating the deep dish... oh? It's delicious. Ah, it's not just thick.

Chicago deep dish is not simply 'thick', but a real dish filled to the brim.

First of all, the crust is baked much deeper and crispier than regular pizza dough. It contains cornmeal, which gives it a crispy texture and a slightly nutty aroma.

On top of that, layers of fillings like sausage, cheese, and vegetables are stacked, and finally, it's covered with warm tomato sauce.

While regular pizza has the sauce at the bottom and toppings on top of the cheese, deep dish pizza has the order reversed.

When cutting it, you have to carefully reveal the cross-section as if you were cutting a cake.

At this point, you start to realize. This is not just a 'snack with something on bread', but a real main dish.

Deep dish is like the T-bone steak of the pizza world.

Within Chicago, there are several famous places, and shops like Lou Malnati's, Giordano's, and Gino's East each have their own unique character.

Some places are loaded with cheese, while others are filled with whole sausages. They are literally masters who create mountains of cheese and meat.

Their dedication is no joke. Even when choosing cheese, they insist on using only mozzarella from specific farms, and the sauce is made only from California tomatoes.

At this point, it feels more like an artwork than food.

In fact, the influence of Chicago deep dish is immense. The chain pizza places like Pizza Hut, Domino's, and Papa John's shouting 'double cheese', 'sausage bomb', 'bacon combo' are ultimately an extension of the Chicago deep dish philosophy.

Korean-style pizza has already transcended the concept of 'bread + cheese + sauce', becoming a bread platform where you can pile on all ingredients.

This may be an exaggeration, but the true creator of American pizza culture is actually Chicago.

Of course, this pizza is not very good for health. It's a calorie bomb, sodium bomb, fat bomb... a trinity.

But sometimes, isn't such food a joy in life?

They say the ghost that died after eating looks good..