There is a storm brewing in the New York City food scene, a storm born out of seemingly well-intentioned climate change regulations. Yet, the key question remains, is it a storm we need to weather?
According to a recent article from The Post, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has proposed new rules targeting decades-old baking methods in pizzerias. Specifically, the department is cracking down on coal-and-wood-fired ovens, demanding a 75% reduction in carbon emissions. DEP spokesman Ted Timbers explains,
“All New Yorkers deserve to breathe healthy air and wood and coal-fired stoves are among the largest contributors of harmful pollutants in neighborhoods with poor air quality.”
While the desire for cleaner air is something we can all get behind, the overall impact of these regulations is questionable at best. A city official admitted that less than 100 restaurants would be affected by the mandate, leading us to ask, is it worth it?
Paul Giannone, owner of Paulie Gee’s in Greenpoint, reportedly spent $20,000 on an air filter system in anticipation of the new rules, a price that many small businesses can ill afford. Giannone summed up the situation, stating,
“Oh yeah, it’s a big expense! It’s not just the expense of having it installed, it’s the maintenance. I got to pay somebody to do it, to go up there every couple of weeks and hose it down and you know do the maintenance.”
https://nypost.com/2023/06/25/nyc-rules-crack-down-on-coal-wood-fired-pizzerias-must-cut-carbon-emissions-up-to-75/
Another anonymous restaurateur, furious at the proposed rules, exclaimed,
“And for what? You really think that you’re changing the environment with these eight or nine pizza ovens?!”
Adding to the controversy, many patrons argue that the change would alter the taste of the pizzas baked in these traditional ovens. Brooklyn Heights resident Saavi Sharma lamented,
“I’m all for responsible environmental practice but tell Al Gore to take one less private jet or something. Give me a break!”
https://nypost.com/2023/06/25/nyc-rules-crack-down-on-coal-wood-fired-pizzerias-must-cut-carbon-emissions-up-to-75/
Dave Portnoy weighs in.
While DEP officials claim they consulted with restaurateurs to develop the rules, the responses suggest the opposite. The truth of the matter is, these regulations not only threaten the authenticity and taste of New York City pizza, but they also place an unnecessary burden on small businesses already hit hard by COVID-19 pandemic.
As the anonymous restaurateur pointed out, if this mandate is about making a significant difference in environmental impact, then it is utterly misdirected.
To echo Sharma’s sentiments, let’s focus on the real culprits of environmental pollution and not meddle with our slice. The flavor of authentic New York City pizza, baked in a coal-and-wood-fired oven, is a legacy we should preserve, not regulate out of existence.
People benefit from it, so of course greens will oppose it.
Leave these dunces to run your city and this is what you get !
Give us pizza or give us death!
Now there’s a rallying cry.
These are the same Stalinist moron-tyrants who want to ban beach fires.
Pizza without wood-fired ovens are not pizzas.
The Green Meanie creed: Let them eat sun-dried bugs!
This quote from C.S. Lewis:
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
. DEP spokesman Ted Timbers explains,
No mention of climate change there.
Drax sustainable carbon neutral woodchips to the rescue.
I don’t think I have ever eaten a pizza cooked in a wood stove.
During my last year of high school and 4 years of college, I worked in a pizza shop. We used gas and thick slabs of asbestos (I think). Home ovens have always been electric. My interest is heightened. I’ll have to install a backyard oven and give this a try.
I did visit NYC one time. No pizza as I recall.
One TV commentator put it this way: ” You can take my pizza when you can pry it fro my cold dead fingers “.
Government is not the solution, government is the problem.
…seemingly well-intentioned climate change regulations
There is no such thing. “Climate change” regulation is not well-intentioned. It’s designed to force compliance by happy, productive humans with the capricious decrees, the lunacy, of uptight, autocratic people with control issues. They have no basis in reality or science and there is no desire for the petty dictators to compromise in any way or concede to pragmatism.
Look on the bright side, at least they didn’t fall into the easy mandate option of forcing all pizza eaters attending those traditional smoke filled authentic tasty food prep venues to wear a face mask….
Shame in a way, because here in the UK we have a whole field full of PPC mostly face masks, where container after container of the things was simply dumped behind a casual cowboy operated (sic) recycling facility in Southampton. Part of the ‘defeat Covid’ policies apparently. State purchases that were panic buys and useless just one example of many, Hand in Cock, Buy it cheap dump it high’ best practices. We could ship them all to NY and keep the Pizza clients in masks for generations to come.
If that option isn’t sufficient, we also have a few warehouses of mechanical ventilators urgently purchased you understand. These all unused are immediately available for repurposing, ideal to resuscitate the pizza diners, overcome with smoke from those Bristlecone pine hockey sticks, so often used to fire up the ovens…
Saavi Sharma lamented, “I’m all for responsible environmental practice but …”
_______________________________________________________________
Rules for thee, but not for me.
Story tip:BP Energy Review 2022 | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT (wordpress.com)
Renewables not having much impact on emissions. Notalotofpeopleknowthat (@Notalotofpeopl1) / Twitter
if you don’t want to inflict green idiocy on your business or on your children for that matter, then stop voting for idiots.
FFS, it should read CO2, NOT carbon.
While DEP officials claim they consulted with restaurateurs to develop the rules
They may have, just not any who would be affected by the rules. Probably consulted with their competitors.
If we are going to take serious measures to curb harmful emissions then the place to start is with the oral emissions of the bureaucrats and progressive politicians. We need to design and deploy facial occlusion devices that prevent unscientific verbal emissions from leaking out of these dangerous social predators. I am sure the targeted group will want to go along with this as “the science is settled”. A consensus of people with brains agrees there is no other option. We only have 2 years 3 months, 17 days and 12.3762 hours to prevent Armageddon. Let’s get those mask on now.
The net result will be that New Yawkas who want a real pizza cooked in a wood-fired oven will take the PATH train to Hoboken or Jersey City on the west bank of the Hudson River, where NYC law doesn’t apply. The smoke from the pizza ovens in NaJoisey will be blown back over NYC by the prevailing westerly winds.
The net result is no effect on the environment, but a boon for NJ pizzerias.
Full disclosure: I am a Hoboken alumnus.
Will there be a protest of similar magnitude in the late 2020’s, or possibly even earlier, when NYC’s power load pocket peaker plants are directed to close? (My prediction …. no.)
Italy: ‘Pizza’ fresco found in ancient ruins of Pompeii
Experts say that the ancient fresco, which depicts a flat bread with assorted toppings on a tray with other food, could be a “distant relative” of modern-day pizza. There are a few key ingredients missing, however
I hope, Climate “Scientists” don’t search for a correlation between pizza baking and Pompeji destruction 😀
All we are saying is, give pizza a chance.
🍕
Pizza can save the world, but not a New York pizza. It would have to be a Chicago deep dish.
Leftism is about incrementally pissing off everyone in order of their allegiance to the left. Sorry, NYC, you’re next.