Vegan pizzeria wins award at World Pizza Championships
'Vegan pizza isn’t just possible – it’s the future'
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Your support makes all the difference.Purezza, the UK’s first vegan pizzeria, has won a top prize at the World Pizza Championships.
The Campionato Mondiale Della Pizza, or World Pizza Championship as its more commonly known, is held in Parma, Italy, every year and has been running since 1991.
Despite attracting over 6,500 independent pizzerias from across the globe each year, 2019 marked the first time a vegan pizzeria entered the prestigious competition, which took place between 9-11 April.
Purezza, which has restaurants in Brighton and London and is in the process of opening a vegan mozzarella factory, entered into the award’s Pizza Classica category this year.
The category is reserved for traditional Italian style pizzas, baked with wood-fired ovens and gives contestants up to 12 minutes to prepare and cook their pizzas before they are presented to a panel of judges.
Purezza’s entry was titled "The Promised Land" and was made using BrewDog Punk IPA-infused whole grain dough.
The pizza was topped with stir-fried cavolo nero, Italian-style marinated tempeh, pioppini mushrooms, and a borlotti bean sauce.
It also used two different cheeses – Purezza’s own signature vegan cheese, dubbed Mozzarella 2.0 – and a fermented cashew cheese with sun-dried cruschi peppers.
The creation was finished with a garnish of ginger puree, agave syrup, and a vegan caviar.
Purezza’s head chef, Filippo Rosato, who cooked for the judges said: “The Campionato Mondiale Della Pizza is the gold standard of awards for pizzerias and pizza chefs around the world. It’s the competition that every pizzaiolo aspires to compete in.
“To even be there as the first vegan pizzeria was an incredible experience, but to have come away with one of the awards for the Pizza Classica category is more than I could ever have hoped for, and shows that vegan pizza isn’t just possible – it’s the future.”
The award joins several others that Purezza won in 2018, including the National Pizza of the Year in the UK.
Inspired by a classic Italian parmigiana, Purezza’s winning pizza – the "Parmigiana Party" – was made using plant-based mozzarella and topped with fried aubergine and vegan sausage.
The pizza is one of its most popular and was praised by judges last year for its innovative ingredients, which reflect the rising demand for vegan-friendly alternatives in the British food scene.
The company also won the PizzAward 2018 in Naples for the Best International Pizza.
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