Three-person culinary collective Ghetto Gastro dedicates itself to merging the cooking traditions of Black, brown and Asian folks to make high-quality, healthy food. 

The Bronx-born collective has a deep love for that NYC staple, pizza. For Ghetto Gastro, the Bronx is the place where it all begins. They see their neighborhood as a driver of global culture. So the pizzerias they grew up with, places like Nick’s Pizza on Gun Hill Road, Full Moon on Arthur Ave and the mega-slice joint on Westchester Square served as their inspiration when they began creating their own recipe. That recipe honors the slices they used to buy “back in the day for a buck-fiddy” before heading to the arcade to play video games. 

The pie they make is just about as classic as it gets. Ghetto Gastro’s cover their dough in tomato sauce, cheese and basil. While this is a beginner-friendly recipe, be sure to follow this one tip from Ghetto Gastro: “You’re gonna start your dough the day before you want to serve the pizza, giving it time to proof (the fermentation period that allows the dough to rise) and develop a chewy bite in the finished product that we love so much.”

Excerpted from Ghetto Gastro Presents Black Power Kitchen by Jon Gray, Pierre Serrao, Lester Walker, with Osayi Endolyn (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2022.