Copenhagen, Denmark – In 2005, the Copenhagen City Council decided to develop part of the Meatpacking District in Copenhagen into a creative and cultural area, a far cry from its previous use as a slaughtering hub.
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Many restaurants have begun popping up over the last decade, one of which is Mother Pizza.
Italian chef David Baffani founded Mother Pizza in 2010, just two years after moving to Copenhagen.
Baffani, 51, started the sourdough pizza restaurant, as a concept initially in London, where he noticed a missing market.
The name ‘Mother’ in the restaurant’s name comes from the term used to describe a sourdough starter.
When moving to Copenhagen, Baffani said he noticed a need here, which prompted him to open Mother again.
Starting his education in Italy to become a chef, Baffani worked in Italian and French restaurants in Rome and in the United States and finally in the UK before moving to Copenhagen.
Baffani chooses to bring those elements of fine dining into his menu at Mother as well, with, for example, the confit mushrooms or the double-glazed pumpkin on the pizza.
“If I can know how to do something that produces a better outcome, then I should do it,” he explained.
But Baffani made it very clear that pizza should not be made in a gourmet way where “everything is explained in detail.”
Instead, he said, pizza should be democratic and impulsive.
That democratic value permeates a lot of Baffani’s work. He prides himself on his main values of quality and affordability. By importing all its goods from Italy itself, Mother is able to keep the cost down, said Baffani.
Recently, Mother opened a new location in Copenhagen, called Mother in the City, making the original location, Mother in the Meatpacking District.
In each of the locations, the pizza is cooked slightly differently.
The original location is cooked in a more Neapolitan style, with a higher temperature and crispier edges than in the city, where the pizza is cooked more slowly with a lower temperature.
Recently, Mother adopted a new concept, Mother Lunch, where the mid-day meal costs 100 Danish kroner (around $15.5 USD), for a full-size pizza, the same as what is served for dinner at a higher cost.
Baffani explained this it is not an offer or campaign, but instead a concept, which is why it is a full-size pizza.
After running Mother for over 15 years, Baffani still said, “When I am in the kitchen, I am in my element.”
Noah Haynes is a Correspondent with Youth Journalism International.
