People loved words like 'oregano' and 'pizzeria' that she pronounced in her Canadian accent.
While pizza's origins are ancient, it wasn't until the 1950s that it made its way into Canadian homes with the first commercial pizza ovens. Canadians quickly embraced this cheesy delight, topping their pizzas with mozzarella, tomato sauce, and a variety of toppings like mushrooms, peppers, and spinach. In 1957, Kathy Brady filmed a pizza recipe for a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) cooking segment. Decades later, this video resurfaced online and has gone viral.
Speaking to CBC about her newfound internet fame, the 90-year-old Brady said she was surprised that her recipe video gained such popularity. Brady first leanred of her knew fame from her daughter-in-law, Debbie Butt. Butt said that when she spotted the retro-style black-and-white recipe clip popping in her social media feed. "I was like, 'Oh, my gosh, that's my mother-in-law.'" Later, she posted the clip on her social media and people swarmed her with questions about the lady in the video. "It was super fun," Butt said. "Grandma comes over every Sunday night for dinner, so I couldn't wait to tell her."
The video captures a young Brady sharing her recipe for what she called a "popular Italian dish" known as "pizza pie." In the clip, she explains, "Pizza pie is becoming very popular, especially down in the States. There are some restaurants that even specialize in it. These are called pizzerias. On Saturday nights, you can see cars lined up for miles waiting for their pizza."
Brady’s Canadian accent especially attracted people’s attention. Some people noted that the way she said “pizzeria,” sounded like “Pete Syria,” something that viewers found cute. "It seems to me that I have a bit of an accent, but I don't really have an accent," Brady said, laughing. "I don't know how that got into it," Butt said that comments like these have become an inside joke among family members.
Shedding some light on the backstory of how Brady got the idea of recording a pizza recipe, she said, "Pizza was just sort of coming to the fore when I was going to university," and added, "People were talking about it and going to make it at home because you couldn't buy it in the store or a restaurant. And so I just thought it was quite unique and it would be an interesting topic."
It was one of her professors from the University of British Columbia, who recommended her to CBC for a TV pilot. At this time, in 1954, she was studying at this university, pursuing a dietitian course through its home economics program, which included lessons in cooking demonstrations. Following her brief work in TV, Brady spent 30 years working as a dietitian, mostly in hospitals and in her private practice. Butt said that she’s grateful the video gave her the chance to share her mother-in-law's story with others. "I love the opportunity to see her shine," Butt added.
When it comes to the dish called “pizza pie,” it is just another form of pizza, according to Pizza Oven Reviews UK. A typical pizza pie is a piece of flatbread layered with tomato sauce and varied toppings, baked at a high temperature. In Brady’s 1957 recipe, she described the dish as a base consisting of "a biscuit or a yeast dough," topped with a tangy tomato sauce, oregano, and "nippy cheese," which she said was "a strong cheddar." Extra cheese, please!
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