New Webisode: A “Love Letter” to our Fellow Fire-Freaks

Welcome back everyone!  During the past year or so we posted a number of webisodes filmed at the Forno Bravo Oven Expo a few years ago. I had the chance to meet and cook with some great chefs and teachers, work side by side with the Obi Wan Kenobi of pizza, John Arena, and meet hundreds of kindred spirits who, in one of the episodes, we referred to as our “fellow fire-freaks.” All of those Expo episodes were made possible by our host who put on the entire event, Forno Bravo, who is also our web partner in bringing you Pizza Quest. Over the years we’ve been supported on this site by other sponsors as well, such as Central Milling Flour, Bel Gioioso Cheese, DiNapoli Tomato Products, The Fire Within, and others but it is really Forno Bravo who built this site and provides all the technical support that allows me to serve as its editor and content guy.

I have relationships with all of the wood-fired oven companies and am impressed by them all (and this is also true regarding the many great cheese, flour, and tomato product companies).  Forno Bravo (FB for short) knows that and, from the start, when the FB team and our PQ trio (me, Brad English, and Jeff Michael) conceived this site we all agreed that I and we would not serve here as exclusionary pitchmen for our sponsors but would, instead, remain as objective as possible as we developed content for the site, free to tout any products and people that were worthy to be touted. And Forno Bravo has honored and continues to honor that agreement, so it gives me great joy to post this opening webisode of 2020 as a kind of thank you “love letter” to the folks at Forno Bravo for all their support and the many contributions they have made in growing the WFO sector and, along with their friendly competitors, create a vibrant, passionate community of “fellow fire freaks,”

At the end of the FB Oven Expo, Tim Cole, who wears many hats at the company, sat down with me to reflect on why the company created this event and how they see themselves as part of the bigger community. In fact, community is the key word here, as you will see when you watch this conversation and, whether you cook over fire or just love eating fire- cooked food, I think you will recognize yourselves as welcome members of our ever-growing fire-freak tribe. Enjoy!