Kristen Hartke. It wasn't until I started making pizza, first in a shop in Florida when I was 18, where I pushed out pizzas four nights a week for nearly a year, and later on Friday nights for my family and friends,that I really started thinking about what makes pizza good – and what makes it terrible. Both became more apparent to me when I did what might seem unthinkable to any true pizza-lover: After spending most of my life as a cheese-eating vegetarian, I transitioned to a vegan diet. Pizza suddenly became a problem. Or so I thought. I began wondering how I could make pizza that had the right aroma, texture and flavour, but without cheese.