I thought the entire concept here was that the boy was light, and faded, and DREAM-LIKE, and the pizza was what he was dreaming about, so the pizza was slightly darker, yet still light, ethereal, and dreamy.
I mean, the whole idea that the kid needs to be Ansel Adams-ized to a perfect, full-scale tonal representation, and that everything in the picture needs the same degree of contrast seems so arbitrary and utterly wrong for this shot, hence my initial reaction, a simple, "I LOVE this!!!!!". Not a comment filled with niggles. Not qualified with a"but" or an "or" nor any other nits or reservations." Just a simple,emphatic, declarative, "I LOVE this!!!!!" I even understood , "Why the B&W".
Why the B&W? Seriously???? One doesn't get the most-basic origin of the image, specifically that the image was shot on B&W film, then proceeds to offer advice about the image?
NOT to mention, this is posted in "The Black & White Gallery."