「经济学人」The hottest gadget of the summer?

The question is why many spend time making a food that is easily bought

IF YOU WANT to get your hands on a pizza, the easiest way is to order one by phone or app; within the hour it will land on your doorstep. (So convenient is this method that Americans spent $17bn on pizza deliveries last year.) Nevertheless, some people prefer a harder way: making a pie from scratch. Even inexpert bakers will manage to ferment flour, water, yeast and salt into a decent dough, before topping it with pureed tomatoes, mozzarella and some basil. The problem comes when it is time to cook the thing.

For a long time, you had three choices. First, use a conventional oven—but, because they rarely get above around 250°C, the pizza will be flat and dry. Second, buy a giant wood-fired oven: perfect for anyone with thousands of dollars and an immense amount of space to spare. Third, anyone with many hundreds, a large garden and a taste for backbreaking manual labour could build their own.

But in recent years, a fourth option has emerged: portable ovens. These are just big enough for a single pizza and fuelled by wood, propane or electricity. They tend to be domed; the shape reflects heat downwards, as in a professional oven. Crucially, they are reasonably priced, starting at around $250. Sales of such ovens began taking off during the pandemic, when restaurants were closed and people wanted a way of socialising outdoors. Ooni, a Scottish company, saw sales quadruple in 2020-21. When Gozney, another British firm, launched an oven called the “Dome” in 2021, it sold out within hours of release.

The rising cost of living has hampered sales somewhat, but over the next five years the market for home pizza ovens is still expected to grow steadily, with outdoor gas-powered versions the most popular type. The delicious pizza they produce shatters a long-held belief that cooking with wood or coal was the only way to make one of restaurant quality.

In fact, different heat sources produce little or no discernible difference in flavour. A pizza’s cooking time is brief—around 90 seconds—and it is not being smoked by the charcoal. Gas ovens get hot enough (upwards of 450°C) to produce the puffed, leopard-spotted crust that defines a first-rate pizza. Portable electric ovens, now offered by many brands, provide a similar experience without the annoyance of pellets or propane.

That just leaves the question of why anyone would spend time and money making perhaps the most easily acquired takeaway food on Earth. One reason is taste: pizza straight from the oven is much more delicious than the same pizza 30 minutes later, partly stuck to a cardboard box. Another is social: with an oven, dough balls, toppings and some friends, a summer party emerges. Last is pride. Anyone can pick up a phone, but when a dish hits your eye and it’s your own pizza pie, that’s amore.

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Get a pizza the action”(May 19th 2025)

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