In an amazing episode of the Flavors series by Great Big Story, they sit down with 12-time World Pizza Champion and chef Tony Gemignani to learn more about his art form of pizza acrobatics, which he describes as “what a Harlem Globetrotter does with a basketball.” They also feature footage from the annual World Pizza Games where pizza flippers masterfully fling pizza dough behind the back, through the legs, and in the air.
When it comes to pizza dough tossing, there’s the classic pitch you’re probably picturing, and then there’s what Tony Gemignani does. The 12-time world pizza champion describes his particular art form as “what a Harlem Globetrotter does with a basketball”—only with pizza dough. But while a basketball never loses its form, soft dough moves and changes shape as it flips through the air, around-the-neck, through-the-shoulders, behind-the-back … you get the idea. At the annual World Pizza Games, witness pizza acrobatics like you never imagined.
