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Pizza: The Fifth
Food Group
If you have ever wondered what people eat on top of the windiest mountain in the world, you’re not alone. Visitors to the summit are often shocked to learn that the Observatory boasts a full kitchen and a well-stocked larder.
“We thought you lived in tents!” said one astonished (but well-fed) visitor.
Ordering out for pizza is not an option when you are trapped on an icy mountaintop, but just because people live miles away from civilization doesn’t mean they can’t eat a civilized dinner--or two, if they get the chance.
Pizza changes from day to day on top of Mount Washington. What once started as a primitive combination of bread, sauce and cheese soon evolved into a deluxe frying-pan pizza that took hours to prepare.
To feed a normal-sized crew, we used to make four large pizzas, cooked on silver cookie pans. Then one night, after a late-evening search-and-rescue operation, the entire Lakes of the Clouds hut crew stayed unexpectedly at the Observatory for dinner. All those hungry, weary bodies wolfed down our precious pizza in just 15 minutes. To make a second, even bigger batch, we snuck upstairs and “liberated” two more trays from the State Park kitchen.
Read more funny Mount Washington Observatory tales on this website:
Into Deep Slush
A Misadventure on the Mt. Washington Auto Road
A Purr-fect Storm
Meet the Observatory Cats
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If you’ve just walked five weary miles through the cold rain on a mountain search-and-rescue operation, the last thing you want to do is spend a lot of time preparing a fancy dinner--you want someone else to spend a lot of time doing it! But just in case that doesn’t happen, here’s a pizza recipe that’s easy to make.