Ingredients
1- Can of Pillsbury Pizza DoughTM
1- Package of mozzarella cheese (shredded)
1-Jar of marinara sauce
1 - Piece of Parchment paper
1- Baking sheet
1- Sharpie
Instructions
- Consider your uterus. Do you have an IUD, fibroids, endometriosis, some, one or none of your fallopian tubes and/or ovaries? Is your uterus tilted or enlarged? All of the aforementioned can alter the look/shape of your uterus.
- Research the uterus. Familiarize yourself with all of its parts and functions and how it connects/interacts with the rest of your body.
- Explore some depictions of the uterus. Line drawings will be the most helpful in terms of what you’ll be able to achieve with the pizza dough.
- Review each part of the uterus, its shape and function.
- Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Draw your uterus to the best of your ability on the parchment paper. If you have an edible marker, great. Otherwise, any marker will do. Don’t use a pencil.
- Cut and stretch the raw pizza dough into the shape/s you’ve drawn. Pizza dough is sticky and elastic. You will want to cut smaller pieces than you drew and stretch the dough into the desired shape/s. It might take a moment for the dough to relent and stay in the shape/s you’ve cut. Be patient. This is part of the fun.
- Use sauce and cheese and toppings if using to “color” the uterus.
- Put in the oven for the amount of time recommended on your store bought pizza dough container.
- All to cool.
- Label the parts of the uterus on the parchment.
- Enjoy! It’s your uterus. You can eat it if you want to!
Background
The Uterus Pizza was conceived of in anger on a day close to Roe v. Wade being overturned. It was a distraction from the devastating blow to reproductive justice that the Dobbs decision represents. It was a silly endeavor, about playing with food. However, this exercise was not careless. The food became the medium. A uterus pizza became a critical exploration, revelation about self-knowledge, and a tasty treat.
The uterus pizza was created with as much accuracy as the mediums would allow and was modeled after a uterus with an IUD, and only a left fallopian tube and left ovary. The exercise was to understand each of the uterus’ parts, their function, how they connect to the rest of the uterus and/or other organs, and the scientific names for all. The conclusion was bothersome. Not one part could be easily identified, drawn or spelled correctly without checking sources.
At a time when life-altering decisions are being made about bodies with a uterus, there is an imperative to know this body part inside-and-out, in order to advocate, argue, and fight for reproductive rights. This pizza exercise might be fun and funny, but the outcome is important. Knowledge was gained, as well as some of the confidence that could be useful in the coming years to combat the people who do not believe in choice, bodily autonomy, or the rights of those with a uterus.
Bakers Tips
- Whatever your medium (pencil and paper work just as well as cheese, dough, and sauce!), take some time to map your uterus if you have one.
- Do this exercise alone, with a friend, family member, a child, and/or a partner.
- Make sure you know the proper names for all of the parts and their function.
- This information is worth knowing and fighting for!
