A Short History of Pizza
Thursday, May 17th, 2007It is not conclusive when precisely did pizza emerge at its position as one of the tremendously popular dishes in the United States, but nearly everybody will unquestionably concur that pizza has become America’s favorite food over the past 50 years. Millions of pizza pies are eaten everyday, but how often do the people eating the food stop to consider the history? The actual origins of this fine cuisine are as colorful as any excellent pizza piled with toppings.
If you go out into the streets and start questioning people where they suppose pizza came from, chances are you will get answers pointing to the common belief that Italians created the pizza. Even so, pizza’s roots go back to the antediluvian times. Even though we have yet to hear archeological evidence of a Dominos Pizza outlet before the last century, it is known that the Babylonians, Israelites, Egyptians and other ancient Middle Eastern cultures were eating flat, un-leaven bread that had been cooked in mud ovens.
The bread was very much like a pita, which is still conventional in Greece and the Middle East today. Besides, it is well-known that ancient Mediterranean people such as the Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks were eating the bread, topped flavored with olive oil and indigenous spices.
The lesser class populace of Naples, Italy is believed to have created pizza in a more familiar fashion. In the late 1800s, an Italian baker by the name of Raffaele Esposito, was believed to have created a dish for visiting royalty. According to the story, the Italian monarch King Umberto and his consort, Queen Margherita were touring the area. In order to impress them and to show his devoted zeal, Raffaele opted to include some toppings to his flat bread with food that would best symbolize the colors of Italy: red tomato, white mozzarella cheese and green basil. The monarch and queen were so fascinated by the creativity of the dish and its maker that news rapidly reached the people. The end results were that the dish was well received to the extent that others began to copy it.
By the onset of the 1900s pizza made its way to the interior cities of the United States, thanks to Italian immigrants. The people of New York and Chicago were among the foremost diners to taste and enjoy their first slices of pizza, due to those cities having large Italian populations. Soon afterwards, small cafes and restaurants began serving the Italian favorite. American soldiers also influenced the reputation of the dish by the end of World War II, having been exposed to it while serving on the Italian front.
Today pizza has become just as American as baseball and apple pie. Only because of its most current bloodlines is it regarded an Italian dish. Huge U. S. based multi-billion dollar corporations should be thankful for the development of this delicious dish, along with countless poor college students who can appreciate the fine dining experience pizza has given them.
Jane Huntington is an avid cook and writer working for http://www.cindykitchen.com, where you can get all the best restaurant and pizza supplies at the best prices. Visit us for all your restaurant equipment supplies needs.
- Jane Huntington