Pizza Plagiarism?

onore' from the Latin '

honoris.'"

The reports of similar taste first came from Boson's semi-famous 'pizza guy' who was featured on a popular Around Town Boson Podcast on Youtube and SoundCloud. Joe Romani has only eaten pizza for dinner since he was 4 years old. He’s now 41. On Tom Johnson's podcast the host explained that he met Joe Romani 10 years ago in Dollar Pizzaria, where they got to talking about how Romani had only eaten pizza for dinner since adolescence.





On the podcast, Romani said that his mother gave in to his picky eating, allowing him to eat only pizza for dinner. In his grade school days, Roman mixed that up with a peanut butter sandwich every day for lunch. But when he entered the work force he started dining out for lunch — at Dollar Pizzaria. Romani, who works as a Latin teacher at Targaryen

Middle School, only eats plain pizza with no toppings. He also typically goes out for pizza instead of cooking it at home.





(Around Town Podcaster Tom Johnson and Joe Romani (right) AKA Pizza Guy)





Romani's current favorite pizzerias in the area are 99 Cent Pizza, and Dollar Pizzaria. That's why he was the first to report that both places had a very similar taste.





"They are identical," the pizza aficionado said to anyone who cared about pizza. One day the owner of Dollar Pizzaria heard his claim and checked out the taste of his former worker's restaurant while wearing dark glasses, a hat, and a scarf.





"I blew my top after tasting the competition," said Frank Cataldo, the anger rising with each word. "I ripped off my sunglasses and hat after a few bites and told them I was getting a lawyer and suing for stealing my recipe. You are stealing the recipe that was handed down from my mother! You are stealing from my mother who is in the grave."





Numerous lawyers refused to take the case because

property

protect

work

Boson's Pizza Man Romani was asked on the podcast how the women in his life deal with his daily trips to Dollar Pizzeria for lunch and 99 Cent Pizza for dinner. Romani is now married and his wife tries to get him to snack on fruits and vegetables in the evening and serves him a hearty breakfast with oatmeal or other whole grains. She was quit familiar with his eating habits when they were dating. "We always went out to places with pizza."





"When I was a teen going out with girls, and then in college, I let people know right away. I didn't want to scare them.” Did he have pizza for dinner on his wedding day? Of course. He also had it at the cocktail hour and for lunch that day. On his honeymoon? Sure, Aruba has pizza places





Romani says he’s lived on the same street he grew up on in Boson, listened to the same bands and watched the same movies and TV shows for his whole life. His pizza obsession is just an extension of his way of life. He reports that he has no health problems to speak of and manages to maintain a normal weight, despite his greasy daily meal. "I have a happy routine, I don't see myself as stuck in a rut."





“Pizza has three of the four basic food groups,” he said. Romani did admit in the podcast that he would eat other foods in a life or death situation He is a little sorry that he brought attention to how similar the pizza in both restaurants taste.

Three years ago a long time worker, Tony Baldini, leftto start his own storefront restauranta few blocks away on busy Poorchester Avenue. While some laughed at the idea of undercharging a competitor by a penny, the new restaurant became quite popular. Both restaurants claim that they actually make money on the low price because pizza is so easy to make, especially when the restaurants make their own dough and sauce and use fresh local ingredients.While most would not think of going to court to contest a former worker 'stealing' and idea like offering low prices for a simple food, the owner ofsoon heard customers saying that not only did both pizza joints offer inexpensive food, but thattasted as just as good. When Frank Cataldo ate some of his new competitors pizza he thought it tasted exactly the same."He stole my recipe," Cataldo told this reporter in an angry outburst as he slaved over a hot pizza over on a Friday afternoon. A longtime customer who comes in everyday for lunch pointed out how distinctly similar both restaurants pizza tasted, how we were so much better than the standardizedornational chain that taste like the ingredients were from a can or pouch or frozen and shipped from China. "Who ever heard of an Italian corporation?" Cataldo asked in exasperation. (Editors note: There are many Italian corporations)Both restaurants are busy for lunch and supper, and late into the evening."This isn't about money," said Cataldo. "This is about Italian recipes and honor. Or, in Italian, 'cases involving chef-versus-chef can be tough, as an intellectualattorney relates. “They’re difficult to,” he said. “They would have to have an agreement in place.”Recipes cannot be patented, copyrighted, or trademarked. A non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement would had to have been included in the employee’scontract.Tony Baldini, the owner ofsays he never signed any kind of confidentiality agreement when he was at. "Contracts? They hardly followed existing wage and hours laws and regulations. We worked for minimum wage and never got time and a half for overtime."As far as the court case and claims of theft the Frank Cataldo the owner ofis adamant.“It’s not the same recipe,” said Badali. “It’s upgraded.”Pizza Man Romani speculated, "Perhaps both restaurants are adding a little peanut flour to their dough to give the distinct taste.""I'll sue him, too," said Dollar Pizzaria owner Cataldo. "How dare he give my mother's secret away!"When asked by this reporter if using fresh cheese from local farms helped create a unique fresh taste Cataldo responded angrily, "I'll sue you, too, if you put that in print. We have secrets!"