Hey look what are friends at Abel and Cole are up to!

Free pizza!

Posted on 10 March 2011

Our friends at What on Earth, who make our organic pizzas, are a brilliant bunch, and generous too. They’ve asked for your help to come up with your very own pizza topping and name it. They’ll make it and we’ll give you some free, then sell it on our website for everyone else to tuck into. See our Facebook page for more details.

We like a laugh here at Abel & Cole but if free pizza is involved, we take things pretty seriously. Thank goodness for the What on Earth team then, who’ve put together this handy guide to making a tip top topping.

What on Earth’s tips for the perfect pizza

With well over a decade of pizza-making experience, we like to think we know our dough from our onions, which is why we’ve thought up a few handy hints to help you design your ultimate pizza. We’ve used all manner of toppings in our time, but we’ve always steered clear of preservatives, additives and pesticides. Nothing involving Brussels sprouts has ever made it past our taste-testers either.

For this competition, we’d love to see you make the most of seasonal ingredients; after all, it’s a limited edition pizza and spring only lasts for so long. Loads of foods enter their prime at this time of year, and we don’t just mean Easter eggs.

One other important tip to help you with your creation: our handthrown pizza bases are known for being authentically thin and crispy, so if you choose too many different toppings they’re likely to turn floppy. For an easy-to-eat slice, stick to two or three key spring-gredients (did you see what we did there?) rather than piling them high.

Apart from that, we reckon you should let your imagination run wild: if you want it on your pizza, we’ll whack on our wellies and track down an organic version for you. And if you need a little extra inspiration, try munching on one of our other pizzas while you’re thinking – it always works for us!

Peace, love and pizza,

The What on Earth Team

Best of luck to everyone, and don’t forget to hop on over to our Facebook page for more info and to enter your topping.

To tell us your Spring pizza topping idea leave a comment underneath the big photo in this photo album by Friday 1^st April, then hope that people vote for yours! We’ll be looking for the one with the most votes, but may need to apply some seasonality and commonsense sway to decide the final winner.

The winner will be able to name their limited edition pizza, and will be sent a batch hot off the press. Three runners up will also get a batch of What on Earth goodies.

Copywriter/Marketing Assistant Wanted

Have you got a way with words? Do you know anything about marketing and PR? Are you wondering where we’re going with this? Well, wonder no more, because What on Earth are looking for a new Copywriter and/or Marketing Assistant.

We need someone to tell the world about our gorgeous GMO-free pizzas, cakes and cooking ingredients, someone with a working knowledge of social media and an interest in marketing and PR. We’re not entirely sure what we’re looking for yet, but we’ll know when we’ve found you: as long as you can capture our tone and get excited about organic food, then we’d be pleased to meet you.

Both the hours and the salary of this role have yet to be confirmed – it really just depends on what we can offer each other. If you’ve got a good eye for grammar, a flair for communication and the enthusiasm to make this role your own, please send your CV and little bit about yourself to hello@whatonearth.co.uk

RESOLUTION ROUND-UP

We haven’t made many new year’s resolutions here at What on Earth HQ because even though we’re trying to change the world in our own small way, we don’t have quite the same drive when it comes to ourselves. We considered committing to a daily team jog around Battersea Park, then we gave in and admitted we’d probably only make it to the café round the corner. Most inspirational is our Chief of Selling Stuff, who has decided to boost her iron levels for 2011. She's eating loads of tasty Crazy Jack Organic apricots, which are a good source of the mineral – although she often ends up snacking on iron-rich dark chocolate too! If you’re the type of person who wants to meet their goals without giving up the things they love, then we’ve got a few suggestions for you.

Nobody would want to cut down on pizza – it’s just so quick and delicious – but if you’re trying to eat less refined white wheat flour, you might see no other choice. Fortunately, our wondrous range of spelt pizzas can sort out your diet dilemma. Spelt is one of our superstar ingredients: a fabulous yeast-free, biodynamic product that delivers nutrients by the bucket load. Grown for thousands of years, it contains less gluten that conventional modern wheat, making it easier to digest. And, as if that wasn’t enough, we also produce a goats cheese and red pepper spelt pizza that’s completely free from cows milk, so you can give yourself a double pat on the back. Actually, if we’d thought about how easy it would be to shake up our diet for the new year, we might have made a few more resolutions of our own…

ORGANISING AN ORGANIC CHRISTMAS

Our advent calendars tell us that Christmas is getting closer all the time and here at What on Earth we’re rushed off our (slightly frozen) feet, but we’ve decided to take moment to hand on some seasonal shopping tips. We know from experience that organising an organic Christmas usually takes a bit more work than nipping to your local supermarket, so here are a few of our festive favourites.

First up is Garlands Organic, whose shop is set in a pretty place called Pangbourne. But even though the village looks like a real-live Christmas card when the snow falls, we’re not suggesting that you have to head out there in person – you can buy from Garlands' range online, including luxury mincemeat for making your own additive-free pies. Tasty, plus baking is a great way to stop kids from being bored in the long, long Christmas holidays.

If you’ve got a house full of hungry youngsters, we’d recommend stocking up on a few packs of our children’s pizzas for fuss-free lunches. You can order them through another of our top shopping picks, Abel & Cole, who also sell some of our most Christmassy desserts: Chocolate Yule Log Cake and Baked Orange & Vodka Cheesecake. Can’t decide between the two? Have both, that’s what the festive season is all about…

Finally, for anyone who hasn’t had time to even think about buying Christmas gifts yet, fear not: we have the perfect solution. And don’t worry, our bright idea isn’t frozen pizzas for everybody (we tried that one year but they’re quite hard to wrap, and because they’re free from preservatives they didn’t last long under the tree). When we eventually manage to dash away and do some spending, we’ll be heading straight to the new Willow Organic shop in Chelsea to get our hands on some posh pressies. With lovely touchy-feely silk packaging that is biodegradable and recyclable, these beauty products are ideal for eco-conscious other-halves and they get a big festive thumbs-up from us. Enjoy!

WHAT ON EARTH’S OVERSEAS ADVENTURE

The What on Earth team came over all continental this month when we popped across to Paris for SIAL, the international food fair. After beginning our trip at silly o’clock in the morning, our Chief of Buying Stuff thought he was still dreaming when he found himself enjoying a complimentary in-flight sandwich instead of being sold scratchcards – he’s usually more of a budget airline man! But before you think our trip was just an excuse for a luxurious mini-break, we’ll have you know that we went to France on a mission: to seek out the best new organic products for you (hoorah!). Naturally, there was a lot of sampling involved – all in the name of research of course – and we were lucky enough to try caviar, pig’s trotter and Latvian pickled fish, as well as a whole host of coffees, sweets and chocolates. It’s a hard life, but someone’s got to do it! We found some exciting new suppliers and also had a chance to catch up with our existing ones, chinwagging about future projects over a beer and a cheesy biscuit. So good to have so many passionate foodies in one place – with no pesticides or additives to spoil the mood!

PEACE.LOVE.PIZZA HITS WAR AND PEACE

The What on Earth pizza wagon (with the What on Earth Cheesecake side show) is spending the week at the War and Peace show in Paddock wood, Kent (www.thewarandpeaceshow.com). If you have never heard of it, as we hadn't, it is a vast collective of (now obsolete) military might. There are more vintage military vehicle then you could shake a Tommy gun at, next to fields of funny hats and old radios...It is an awesome display of about 120,000 peoples devotion to their hobbies. We thought a little bit of Peace. Love and Pizza wouldn't go amiss!

If you are up for it the show is on until Sunday 25 July and the pizza van is next to the main bar (well where else would it be...?!)

What on Earth at Glastonbury

June came (and went very quickly) which means both Wimbledon and Glastonbury...both normally synonymous with lots of rain and lots of mud! This year our Pizza Wagon set up stall to spread peace, love and pizza at the UK’s largest music festival. We were in the Shangri-La area, an imaginary earthly paradise (according to the dictionary) but actually the finest, wildest display of fabulous crazy designs, stage sets and people. Our organic pizzas and cheesecakes thrilled the throngs of sun drenched revellers. It was the perfect opportunity for our band of renegade (multi cultural) crew to enjoy the sun, fun and music. They also got to explore the amazing world that is the Glastonbury festival; the stages, the extraordinarily diverse foods and plenty of otherworldly sites, including some unbelievable art!
Surprisingly (...or not), our organic cheesecakes rocked! They people were seduced by the beautiful flavours: chocolate, lemon, blueberry and raspberry...all handmade in Somerset and served very cold.....a fabulous antidote to one of the hottest weeks of the year. Our pizza, an old favourite at festivals, were gobbled up by many somewhat wobbly party goers (the van was open very late to aid those in need). For the What on Earth crew it was truly an amazing experience and judging by our sales the same was true for all of the happy punters!