A skilled Guatemalan is reportedly taking a bizarre adventure near an active volcano to unleash a new wave of craze.
David Garcia has been cooking pizza over the lava from Pacaya volcano, which has started erupting again in February, for the past several weeks.
Video footage shows Garcia wearing protective clothing and baking pizza on special metal sheets, which can withstand temperatures up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit.
Tourists flock to the mountain to grab a slice of pizza and post pictures on social media.
Lava-baked pizza: Man cooks pies on Guatemala's active volcano https://t.co/2FrvAY2kQW
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) May 13, 2021
Pacaya is one of three active volcanoes in the Central American country, and its eruptions can be seen from the capital, Guatemala, about 15 miles away.
Pacaya was first active about 23,000 years ago, and has erupted at least twenty times since the Spanish invaded Guatemala in the 16th century.
After decades of inactivity, it has revolted repeatedly since the early 1960s.
According to the May 12 update from the National Institute of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology, it is spewing ash of “small to medium size”, although it does not threaten any populated areas yet.
The update stated: “The volcanic fissure opening on the northwest side produces lava fountains, about 50-100 meters high, which feed advanced pyroclastic flows. Brianna is in the West. ”
And accountant Garcia began baking pizza in 2013 in small caves at the foot of the mountain.
“I put her in a hot cave at 800 degrees Celsius, and I took her out within 14 minutes,” he told AFP. And when I tasted pizza cooked with volcanic heat, I said, ‘That’s a good idea.’
When Pacaya’s activity began in recent weeks, he moved his temporary operation to a rocky area near the crater and began cooking on the lava itself.
He added that the lava can reach a temperature of 3600 degrees Fahrenheit, “so I have to watch the direction of the wind so that it does not affect the pizza.”
Of course it is a risky undertaking, but “Pacaya Pizza” with tomato sauce, cheese, onion and pepperoni, has met with great success with hungry tourists after their climb to the mountain.
“Pizza cooked in a volcano is amazing and unique in the whole world,” visitor Philip Aldana told AFP.
While Garcia’s approach is unique, he is not the only chef to use lava in place of an oven: in 2014 London entrepreneurs Sam Bompas and Harry Barr roasted steaks over hot flowing magma.
The couple, who run a company that creates “immersive flavor-based experiences,” hired an expert to build an oven that can reach 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit and melt rocks in molten lava.
Bombas said he was inspired by this fiery achievement while visiting an active volcano in Japan.
He placed a bombas and a steak bar over the lava and we were able to cook it in just seconds, with “thick, thick charcoal on the outside.”
“I can honestly say it was the best steak I have had in my entire life,” said Bombas.
Source: Daily Mail