History of pizza
Encyclopedia
Pizza
is a type of bread and dish that has existed since time immemorial in Middle Eastern
and Mediterranean cuisine. The term 'pizza' first appeared "in a Latin text from the southern Italian town of Gaeta in 997 AD, which claims that a tenant of certain property is to give the bishop of Gaeta 'duodecim pizze', "twelve pizzas", every Christmas day, and another twelve every Easter Sunday," according to Martin Maiden, Professor of Romance Languages at Trinity College of Oxford University .
Medieval Latin
, and in 16th century Naples
a Galette
flatbread was referred to as a pizza. A dish of the poor people, it was sold in the street and was not considered a kitchen recipe for a long time. Before the 17th century, the pizza was covered with red sauce. This was later replaced by oil, tomatoes (after Europeans came into contact with the Americas) or fish. In 1843, Alexandre Dumas, père
described the diversity of pizza toppings. In June 1889, to honor the Queen consort of Italy
, Margherita of Savoy
, the Neapolitan
chef Raffaele Esposito created the "Pizza Margherita," a pizza garnished with tomatoes, mozzarella
cheese, and basil, to represent the colors of the Italian flag. He was the first to add cheese. The sequence through which flavored flatbreads of the ancient and medieval Mediterranean became the dish popularized in the 20th century is not fully understood.
These flatbreads, like pizza, are from the Mediterranean area and other examples of flat breads that survive to this day from the ancient Mediterranean world are focaccia
(which may date back as far as the Ancient Etruscans), coca
(which has sweet and savory varieties) from Catalonia
, Valencia
and the Balearic Islands
, the Greek
Pita
or Pide in Turkish. Lepinja or Somun in the Balkans
or Piadina
in the Romagna part of Emilia-Romagna in Italy.
Similar flat breads in other parts of the world include the Indian Paratha
(in which fat is incorporated), the South Asian Naan
(leavened) and Roti
(unleavened), the Sardinian Carasau, Spianata, Guttiau, Pistoccu and Finnish Rieska. Also worth note is that throughout Europe there are many similar pies based on idea of covering flat pastry with cheese, meat, vegetables and seasoning such as the Alsatian Flammkuchen, German Zwiebelkuchen
, and French Quiche
.
as a topping. For some time after the tomato was brought to Europe
from the Americas in the 16th century, it was believed by many Europeans to be poisonous (as are some other fruits of the nightshade family). However, by the late 18th century, it was common for the poor of the area around Naples
to add tomato to their yeast-based flat bread, and so the pizza was born. The dish gained in popularity, and soon pizza became a tourist attraction as visitors to Naples ventured into the poorer areas of the city to try the local specialty.
Until about 1830, pizza was sold from open-air stands and out of pizza bakeries. Pizzerias keep this old tradition alive today. It is possible to enjoy pizza wrapped in paper and a drink sold from open-air stands outside the premises. Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba
in Naples is widely regarded as the city's first pizzeria. It started producing pizzas for peddlers in 1738 but expanded to a pizza restaurant with chairs and tables in 1830. It still serves pizza from the same premises today.
A description of pizza in Naples around 1830 is given by the French writer and food expert Alexandre Dumas, père
in his work Le Corricolo, Chapter VIII. He writes that pizza was the only food of the humble people in Naples during winter and that "in Naples pizza is flavored with oil, lard, tallow, cheese, tomato, or anchovies."
The Neapolitans take their pizza very seriously. Purists, like the famous pizzeria “Da Michele” in Via C. Sersale (founded 1870), consider there to be only two true pizzas — the Marinara
and the Margherita — and that is all they serve. These two "pure" pizzas are the ones preferred by many Italians today.
The Marinara is the older of the two and has a topping of tomato, oregano
, garlic
and extra virgin olive oil. It is named “Marinara” not because it has seafood on it (it doesn't) but because it was the food prepared by "la marinara", the seaman's wife, for her seafaring husband when he returned from fishing trips in the Bay of Naples
.
The Margherita, topped with modest amounts of tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and fresh basil is widely attributed to baker Raffaele Esposito
. Esposito worked at the pizzeria "Pietro... e basta così" (literally "Peter... and that's enough") which was established in 1880 and is still operating under the name "Pizzeria Brandi." In 1889, he baked three different pizzas for the visit of King Umberto I
and Queen Margherita of Savoy
. The Queen's favorite was a pizza evoking the colors of the Italian flag — green (basil
leaves), white (mozzarella
), and red (tomato
es). This combination was named Pizza Margherita in her honor.
"Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana" ("True Neapolitan Pizza Association"), which was founded in 1984 and only recognises the Marinara and Margherita verace, has set the very specific rules that must be followed for an authentic Neapolitan pizza. These include that the pizza must be baked in a wood-fired, domed oven at 485°C for no more than 60 to 90 seconds; that the base must be hand-kneaded and must not be rolled with a pin or prepared by any mechanical means (i pizzaioli — the pizza makers — make the pizza by rolling it with their fingers) and that the pizza must not exceed 35 centimetres in diameter or be more than one-third of a centimetre thick at the centre. The association also selects pizzerias all around the world to produce and spread the verace pizza napoletana philosophy and method.
There are many famous pizzerias in Naples where these traditional pizzas can be found like Da Michele, Port'Alba, Brandi, Di Matteo, Sorbillo, Trianon and Umberto (founded: 1916). Most of them are in the ancient historical centre of Naples. These pizzerias will go even further than the specified rules by, for example, only using "San Marzano" tomatoes grown on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius
and only drizzling the olive oil and adding tomato topping in a clockwise direction.
The pizza bases in Naples are soft and pliable. In Rome they prefer a thin and crispy base. Another popular form of pizza in Italy is "pizza al taglio
" which is pizza baked in rectangular trays with a wide variety of toppings and sold by weight.
In December 2009, the pizza napoletana was granted Traditional Speciality Guaranteed
status by the European Union
.
with the arrival of Italian immigrants in the late 19th century. This was certainly the case in cities with large Italian populations, such as Chicago
, New York City
, and Philadelphia where pizza was first sold on the streets of Italian neighborhoods. In late 19th century Chicago for example, pizza was introduced by a peddler who walked up and down Taylor Street with a metal washtub of pizzas on his head, selling his wares at two cents a chew. This was the way pizza used to be sold in Naples, in copper cylindrical drums with false bottoms that were packed with charcoal from the oven to keep the pizzas hot. It was not long until small cafes and groceries began offering pizzas to their Italian-American communities.
The first printed reference to "pizza" served in the US is a 1903 article in the Boston Journal. The first "official" pizzeria in America is generally believed to have been founded by Gennaro Lombardi
in Little Italy
, Manhattan
. Gennaro Lombardi opened a grocery store in 1897 which was later established as the first pizzeria in America in 1905 with New York
's issuance of the mercantile license. An employee of his, Antonio Totonno Pero, began making pizza for the store to sell that same year. The price for a pizza was five cents but, since many people could not afford the cost of a whole pie, they would instead say how much they could pay and they were given a slice corresponding to the amount offered. In 1924, Totonno left Lombardi's
to open his own pizzeria on Coney Island
called Totonno's
. While the original Lombardi's closed its doors in 1984, it was reopened in 1994 just down the street and is run by Lombardi's grandson.
Pizza was brought to the Trenton
area of New Jersey
very early as well, with Joe's Tomato Pies opening in 1910, followed soon by Papa's Tomato Pies in 1912. In 1936, De Lorenzo's Tomato Pies
was opened. While Joe's Tomato Pies has closed, both Papa's and Delorenzo's have been run by the same families since their openings and remain among the most popular pizzas in the area. Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana
in New Haven, Connecticut
, was another early pizzeria which opened in 1925 (after the owner served pies from local carts and bakeries for 20–25 years) and is famous for its New Haven style Clam Pie. Frank Pepe's nephew Sal Consiglio opened a competing store, Sally's Apizza
, on the other end of the block, in 1938. Both establishments are still run by descendants of the original family. When Sal died, over 2,000 people attended his wake, and the New York Times ran a half-page memoriam. The D'Amore family introduced pizza to Los Angeles
in 1939.
Before the 1940s, pizza consumption was limited mostly to Italian immigrants and their descendants. The international breakthrough came after World War II. Allied troops occupying Italy, weary of their rations, were constantly on the lookout for good food. They discovered the pizzeria, and local bakers were hard-pressed to satisfy the demand from the soldiers. The American troops involved in the Italian campaign took their appreciation for the dish back home, touted by "veterans ranging from the lowliest private to Dwight D. Eisenhower
".
According to an article in American Heritage Magazine, the modern pizza industry was born in the Midwestern United States. Ric Riccardo pioneered what became known as the Chicago-style deep dish pizza when, in 1943, he and Ike Sewell opened Pizzeria Uno in Chicago
. Others might argue that the "modern pizza industry" began with the birth of Pizza Hut
in Wichita, Kansas
in 1958.
In 1948, the first commercial pizza-pie mix — ‘Roman Pizza Mix‘ — was produced in Worcester, Mass.
, by Frank A. Fiorillo.
The introduction of a 1957 broadcast on Canadian television
documents the dawn of pizza's North American success:
With pizza's rising popularity chain restaurants moved in. Leading early pizza chains were Shakey's Pizza
, founded in 1954 in Sacramento
, California
, Pizza Hut
, founded in 1958 in Wichita
, Kansas
, and Josey's Pizza founded in Newnan, Georgia
in 1943. Later entrant restaurant chains to the dine-in pizza market were Bertucci's
, Happy Joe's
, Monical's Pizza
, California Pizza Kitchen
, Godfather's Pizza
, and Round Table Pizza
.
Today, the American pizza business is dominated by companies that specialize in pizza delivery, such as Domino's, Papa John's Pizza
, Giordano's Pizza, Pizza Ranch
, Mazzio's
, and Godfather's Pizza
. Pizza Hut has shifted its emphasis away from pizza parlors and toward home delivery. Another recent development is the take-and-bake pizzeria, such as Papa Murphy's
,[Little Caesars] Little Caesars
.
On November 17th, 2011, the United States Congress
declared a serving of pizza to be an adequate serving of vegetables. This was mainly decided after much lobbying by the frozen food industries, despite protest from potato farmers.
Pizza
Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"...
is a type of bread and dish that has existed since time immemorial in Middle Eastern
Middle Eastern cuisine
Middle-Eastern cuisine, West Asian cuisine, or in some place in the United States, Persian-Mediterranean cuisine is the cuisine of the various countries and peoples of the Middle East . The cuisine of the region is diverse while having a degree of homogeneity...
and Mediterranean cuisine. The term 'pizza' first appeared "in a Latin text from the southern Italian town of Gaeta in 997 AD, which claims that a tenant of certain property is to give the bishop of Gaeta 'duodecim pizze', "twelve pizzas", every Christmas day, and another twelve every Easter Sunday," according to Martin Maiden, Professor of Romance Languages at Trinity College of Oxford University .
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but also as a language of science, literature, law, and administration. Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors,...
, and in 16th century Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
a Galette
Galette
Galette is a general term used in the French cuisine to designate various types of flat, round or freeform crusty cakes, similar in concept to a Chinese bing. One notable type is the galette des Rois eaten on the day of Epiphany...
flatbread was referred to as a pizza. A dish of the poor people, it was sold in the street and was not considered a kitchen recipe for a long time. Before the 17th century, the pizza was covered with red sauce. This was later replaced by oil, tomatoes (after Europeans came into contact with the Americas) or fish. In 1843, Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
described the diversity of pizza toppings. In June 1889, to honor the Queen consort of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Margherita of Savoy
Margherita of Savoy
Margherita of Savoy , was the Queen consort of the Kingdom of Italy during the reign of her husband, Umberto I.-Family:...
, the Neapolitan
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
chef Raffaele Esposito created the "Pizza Margherita," a pizza garnished with tomatoes, mozzarella
Mozzarella
Mozzarella is an Italian Traditional Speciality Guaranteed food product. The term is used for several kinds of Italian cheeses that are made using spinning and then cutting :...
cheese, and basil, to represent the colors of the Italian flag. He was the first to add cheese. The sequence through which flavored flatbreads of the ancient and medieval Mediterranean became the dish popularized in the 20th century is not fully understood.
Origins
Foods similar to pizza have been prepared since the Neolithic age. Records of people adding other ingredients to bread to make it more flavorful can be found throughout ancient history.- In SardiniaSardiniaSardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
, French and Italian archeologists have found a kind of bread baked over 3,000 years ago. According to Professor Philippe Marinval, the local islanders leavened this bread. - The Ancient Greeks had a flat bread called plakous (πλακοῦς, gen. πλακοῦντος - plakountos) which was flavored with toppings like herbs, onion, and garlic.
- In the 1st century BCE, the Latin poet VirgilVirgilPublius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
refers to the ancient idea of bread as an edible plate or trencher for other foods in this extract from his Latin epic poem, the AeneidAeneidThe Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter...
(Book VII, 112-116,http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/VirgilAeneidVII.htm#_Toc3086150 trans. A. S. Kline ):
- When the poor fare drove them to set their teeth
- into the thin discs, the rest being eaten, and to break
- the fateful circles of bread boldly with hands and jaws,
- not sparing the quartered cakes, Iulus, jokingly,
- said no more than: ‘Ha! Are we eating the tables too?’
These flatbreads, like pizza, are from the Mediterranean area and other examples of flat breads that survive to this day from the ancient Mediterranean world are focaccia
Focaccia
Focaccia is a flat oven-baked Italian bread, which may be topped with herbs or other ingredients. It is related to pizza, but not considered to be the same....
(which may date back as far as the Ancient Etruscans), coca
Coca (pastry)
The coca is a pastry typically made and consumed in Catalonia, eastern parts of Aragon, most of Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Andorra and in French Catalonia....
(which has sweet and savory varieties) from Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, Valencia
Valencia (province)
Valencia or València is a province of Spain, in the central part of the Valencian Community.It is bordered by the provinces of Alicante, Albacete, Cuenca, Teruel, Castellón, and the Mediterranean Sea...
and the Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
, the Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
Pita
Pita
Pita or pitta is a round pocket bread widely consumed in many Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and Balkan cuisines. It is prevalent in Greece, the Balkans the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula and Turkey. The "pocket" in pita bread is created by steam, which puffs up the dough...
or Pide in Turkish. Lepinja or Somun in the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
or Piadina
Piadina
Piadina or Piada is a thin Italian flatbread, typically prepared in the Romagna region . It is usually made with white flour, lard , salt and water...
in the Romagna part of Emilia-Romagna in Italy.
Similar flat breads in other parts of the world include the Indian Paratha
Paratha
A paratha/parantha/parauntha is an Indian flat-bread that originated in the Indian subcontinent. Paratha is an amalgamation of the words parat and atta which literally means layers of cooked dough...
(in which fat is incorporated), the South Asian Naan
Naan
Naan is a leavened, oven-baked flatbread. It is typical of and popular in South and Central Asia, in Iran, and in South Asian restaurants abroad. Influenced by the large influx of South Asian labour, naan has also become popular in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states.Originally, naan is a...
(leavened) and Roti
Roti
Roti is generally a South Asian bread made from stoneground wholemeal flour, traditionally known as atta flour, that originated and is consumed in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It is also consumed in parts of the Southern Caribbean, particularly in Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and...
(unleavened), the Sardinian Carasau, Spianata, Guttiau, Pistoccu and Finnish Rieska. Also worth note is that throughout Europe there are many similar pies based on idea of covering flat pastry with cheese, meat, vegetables and seasoning such as the Alsatian Flammkuchen, German Zwiebelkuchen
Zwiebelkuchen
Zwiebelkuchen, which literally means onion cake in the German language, is either a one-crust pie made of steamed onions, diced bacon, cream, and caraway seed on a yeast dough or a leavened dough that is particularly popular in the German winegrowing regions mostly of Rhenish Hesse, the Palatinate,...
, and French Quiche
Quiche
Quiche is a savory, open-faced pie of vegetables, cheese, or meat in custard, baked in a pastry crust.The quiche is sometimes regarded as the savoury equivalent ofegg custard tart.- Etymology:...
.
Innovation
The innovation that gave us the flat bread we call pizza was the use of tomatoTomato
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
as a topping. For some time after the tomato was brought to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
from the Americas in the 16th century, it was believed by many Europeans to be poisonous (as are some other fruits of the nightshade family). However, by the late 18th century, it was common for the poor of the area around Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
to add tomato to their yeast-based flat bread, and so the pizza was born. The dish gained in popularity, and soon pizza became a tourist attraction as visitors to Naples ventured into the poorer areas of the city to try the local specialty.
Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba
Antica Pizzeria PortAlba is a pizzeria in Naples, Italy, which is widely believed to be the world's first pizzeria.- History :First established in 1738 as a stand for peddlers, Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba was opened in 1830 in the town center at Via Port'Alba 18...
in Naples is widely regarded as the city's first pizzeria. It started producing pizzas for peddlers in 1738 but expanded to a pizza restaurant with chairs and tables in 1830. It still serves pizza from the same premises today.
A description of pizza in Naples around 1830 is given by the French writer and food expert Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
in his work Le Corricolo, Chapter VIII. He writes that pizza was the only food of the humble people in Naples during winter and that "in Naples pizza is flavored with oil, lard, tallow, cheese, tomato, or anchovies."
The Neapolitans take their pizza very seriously. Purists, like the famous pizzeria “Da Michele” in Via C. Sersale (founded 1870), consider there to be only two true pizzas — the Marinara
Marinara Sauce
Marinara sauce is a southern Italian tomato sauce usually made with tomatoes, garlic, herbs , and onion. However, there are many variations. Some of these include the addition of capers, olives, anchovies, and/or spices....
and the Margherita — and that is all they serve. These two "pure" pizzas are the ones preferred by many Italians today.
The Marinara is the older of the two and has a topping of tomato, oregano
Oregano
Oregano – scientifically named Origanum vulgare by Carolus Linnaeus – is a common species of Origanum, a genus of the mint family . It is native to warm-temperate western and southwestern Eurasia and the Mediterranean region.Oregano is a perennial herb, growing from 20–80 cm tall,...
, garlic
Garlic
Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...
and extra virgin olive oil. It is named “Marinara” not because it has seafood on it (it doesn't) but because it was the food prepared by "la marinara", the seaman's wife, for her seafaring husband when he returned from fishing trips in the Bay of Naples
Gulf of Naples
The Gulf of Naples is a c. 15 km wide gulf located in the south western coast of Italy, . It opens to the west into the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered on the north by the cities of Naples and Pozzuoli, on the east by Mount Vesuvius, and on the south by the Sorrentine Peninsula and the main...
.
The Margherita, topped with modest amounts of tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and fresh basil is widely attributed to baker Raffaele Esposito
Raffaele Esposito
Raffaele Esposito was the Italian owner of a tavern called Pizzeria di Pietro e Basta Cosi in the Nineteenth century. It is suggested by some that he was the father of the modern pizza, having cooked one for Queen Margherita of Savoy to welcome her to Naples in 1889...
. Esposito worked at the pizzeria "Pietro... e basta così" (literally "Peter... and that's enough") which was established in 1880 and is still operating under the name "Pizzeria Brandi." In 1889, he baked three different pizzas for the visit of King Umberto I
Umberto I of Italy
Umberto I or Humbert I , nicknamed the Good , was the King of Italy from 9 January 1878 until his death. He was deeply loathed in far-left circles, especially among anarchists, because of his conservatism and support of the Bava-Beccaris massacre in Milan...
and Queen Margherita of Savoy
Margherita of Savoy
Margherita of Savoy , was the Queen consort of the Kingdom of Italy during the reign of her husband, Umberto I.-Family:...
. The Queen's favorite was a pizza evoking the colors of the Italian flag — green (basil
Basil
Basil, or Sweet Basil, is a common name for the culinary herb Ocimum basilicum , of the family Lamiaceae , sometimes known as Saint Joseph's Wort in some English-speaking countries....
leaves), white (mozzarella
Mozzarella
Mozzarella is an Italian Traditional Speciality Guaranteed food product. The term is used for several kinds of Italian cheeses that are made using spinning and then cutting :...
), and red (tomato
Tomato
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
es). This combination was named Pizza Margherita in her honor.
"Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana" ("True Neapolitan Pizza Association"), which was founded in 1984 and only recognises the Marinara and Margherita verace, has set the very specific rules that must be followed for an authentic Neapolitan pizza. These include that the pizza must be baked in a wood-fired, domed oven at 485°C for no more than 60 to 90 seconds; that the base must be hand-kneaded and must not be rolled with a pin or prepared by any mechanical means (i pizzaioli — the pizza makers — make the pizza by rolling it with their fingers) and that the pizza must not exceed 35 centimetres in diameter or be more than one-third of a centimetre thick at the centre. The association also selects pizzerias all around the world to produce and spread the verace pizza napoletana philosophy and method.
There are many famous pizzerias in Naples where these traditional pizzas can be found like Da Michele, Port'Alba, Brandi, Di Matteo, Sorbillo, Trianon and Umberto (founded: 1916). Most of them are in the ancient historical centre of Naples. These pizzerias will go even further than the specified rules by, for example, only using "San Marzano" tomatoes grown on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius is a stratovolcano in the Gulf of Naples, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years, although it is not currently erupting...
and only drizzling the olive oil and adding tomato topping in a clockwise direction.
The pizza bases in Naples are soft and pliable. In Rome they prefer a thin and crispy base. Another popular form of pizza in Italy is "pizza al taglio
Pizza al taglio
Pizza al taglio or pizza al trancio is a variety of pizza baked in large rectangular trays, and generally sold in rectangular slices by weight, with prices marked per kilogram or 100 grams...
" which is pizza baked in rectangular trays with a wide variety of toppings and sold by weight.
In December 2009, the pizza napoletana was granted Traditional Speciality Guaranteed
Protected Geographical Status
Protected Geographical Status is a legal framework defined in European Union law to protect the names of regional foods. Protected Designation of Origin , Protected Geographical Indication and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed are distinct regimes of geographical indications within the framework...
status by the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
.
Pizza in the United States
Pizza first made its appearance in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with the arrival of Italian immigrants in the late 19th century. This was certainly the case in cities with large Italian populations, such as Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and Philadelphia where pizza was first sold on the streets of Italian neighborhoods. In late 19th century Chicago for example, pizza was introduced by a peddler who walked up and down Taylor Street with a metal washtub of pizzas on his head, selling his wares at two cents a chew. This was the way pizza used to be sold in Naples, in copper cylindrical drums with false bottoms that were packed with charcoal from the oven to keep the pizzas hot. It was not long until small cafes and groceries began offering pizzas to their Italian-American communities.
The first printed reference to "pizza" served in the US is a 1903 article in the Boston Journal. The first "official" pizzeria in America is generally believed to have been founded by Gennaro Lombardi
Gennaro Lombardi
Gennaro Lombardi was an Italian immigrant who moved to the US in 1897. He opened a small grocery store in New York's Little Italy. An employee of his, Antonio Totonno Pero, also an Italian immigrant, began making pizza for the store to sell...
in Little Italy
Little Italy
Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood.-Canada:*Little Italy, Edmonton, in Alberta*Little Italy, Montreal, in Quebec...
, Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. Gennaro Lombardi opened a grocery store in 1897 which was later established as the first pizzeria in America in 1905 with New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's issuance of the mercantile license. An employee of his, Antonio Totonno Pero, began making pizza for the store to sell that same year. The price for a pizza was five cents but, since many people could not afford the cost of a whole pie, they would instead say how much they could pay and they were given a slice corresponding to the amount offered. In 1924, Totonno left Lombardi's
Lombardi's
Lombardi's claims to be the first pizzeria in the United States, founded in 1905 in Little Italy, Manhattan. The business started out as a grocery store at 53 Spring Street in 1897 opened by Gennaro Lombardi. In 1905 his employee Antonio Totonno Pero began selling tomato pies wrapped in paper and...
to open his own pizzeria on Coney Island
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....
called Totonno's
Totonno's
Totonno's is a Coney Island pizzeria established by Antonio "Totonno" Pero. He was an employee at the Lombardi's pizzeria on Spring Street in New York's Little Italy that was established in 1905 when he began selling tomato pies cooked in a coal oven and wrapped in paper and tied with a string. In...
. While the original Lombardi's closed its doors in 1984, it was reopened in 1994 just down the street and is run by Lombardi's grandson.
Pizza was brought to the Trenton
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
area of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
very early as well, with Joe's Tomato Pies opening in 1910, followed soon by Papa's Tomato Pies in 1912. In 1936, De Lorenzo's Tomato Pies
De Lorenzo's Tomato Pies
De Lorenzo's Tomato Pies a pizzeria that sells tomato pies in New Jersey. It was founded in 1936 by Alexander "Chick" De Lorenzo and officially established in 1947 in Trenton, New Jersey. Since then it has expanded to another location in Trenton and more recently in Robbinsville...
was opened. While Joe's Tomato Pies has closed, both Papa's and Delorenzo's have been run by the same families since their openings and remain among the most popular pizzas in the area. Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana
Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana
Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, known locally as Pepe's, is a popular pizza restaurant in the Wooster Square neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut at 163 Wooster Street. Opened in 1925, it is one of the oldest and best known pizzerias in the United States.-Frank Pepe:Pepe's was founded in 1925 by...
in New Haven, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, was another early pizzeria which opened in 1925 (after the owner served pies from local carts and bakeries for 20–25 years) and is famous for its New Haven style Clam Pie. Frank Pepe's nephew Sal Consiglio opened a competing store, Sally's Apizza
Sally's Apizza
Sally's Apizza is a famed pizzeria in the Wooster Square neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut. It, along with its neighbor Pepe's, is often cited by aficionados in debates over the world's best pizza....
, on the other end of the block, in 1938. Both establishments are still run by descendants of the original family. When Sal died, over 2,000 people attended his wake, and the New York Times ran a half-page memoriam. The D'Amore family introduced pizza to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in 1939.
Before the 1940s, pizza consumption was limited mostly to Italian immigrants and their descendants. The international breakthrough came after World War II. Allied troops occupying Italy, weary of their rations, were constantly on the lookout for good food. They discovered the pizzeria, and local bakers were hard-pressed to satisfy the demand from the soldiers. The American troops involved in the Italian campaign took their appreciation for the dish back home, touted by "veterans ranging from the lowliest private to Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
".
According to an article in American Heritage Magazine, the modern pizza industry was born in the Midwestern United States. Ric Riccardo pioneered what became known as the Chicago-style deep dish pizza when, in 1943, he and Ike Sewell opened Pizzeria Uno in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. Others might argue that the "modern pizza industry" began with the birth of Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise that offers different styles of pizza along with side dishes including pasta, buffalo wings, breadsticks, and garlic bread....
in Wichita, Kansas
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
in 1958.
In 1948, the first commercial pizza-pie mix — ‘Roman Pizza Mix‘ — was produced in Worcester, Mass.
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
, by Frank A. Fiorillo.
The introduction of a 1957 broadcast on Canadian television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
documents the dawn of pizza's North American success:
- Good afternoon, I’m Mrs. Brady. Today, I’m going to make a popular Italian dish, pizza pie. You’ve all probably heard about it; and if you’d like the recipe, please get a pencil and paper and then you can take it down as I go.
- Pizza pie is becoming very popular, especially down in the States. There are some restaurants that even specialize in it. These are called pizzerias; and Saturday night, if you drive down, you can see cars lined up for miles, waiting for their pizza.
- Pizza pie is composed of three parts. First, there is a base, which is usually a biscuit or a yeast dough. This is covered with a tangy tomato sauce, sprinkled with oregano, and then topped with nippy cheese.
With pizza's rising popularity chain restaurants moved in. Leading early pizza chains were Shakey's Pizza
Shakey's Pizza
Shakey's Pizza is a pizza restaurant chain based in the United States. The chain currently has about 500 stores globally, and about 60 in the United States.-History:...
, founded in 1954 in Sacramento
Sacramento
Sacramento is the capital of the state of California, in the United States of America.Sacramento may also refer to:- United States :*Sacramento County, California*Sacramento, Kentucky*Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise that offers different styles of pizza along with side dishes including pasta, buffalo wings, breadsticks, and garlic bread....
, founded in 1958 in Wichita
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, and Josey's Pizza founded in Newnan, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
in 1943. Later entrant restaurant chains to the dine-in pizza market were Bertucci's
Bertucci's
Bertucci's is a Northborough, Massachusetts-based private company which runs a chain of sit-down Italian restaurants offering brick oven pizza and Italian food. It also offers delivery , take-out and private dining....
, Happy Joe's
Happy Joe's
Happy Joe's Pizza & Ice Cream Parlor is an American pizza parlor chain based in Bettendorf, Iowa. The restaurant chain was founded in 1972 by "Happy Joe" Whitty, a former Shakey's Pizza manager...
, Monical's Pizza
Monical's Pizza
Monical's Pizza is a regional pizza chain, which as of 2007, consists of 60 locations in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. The company franchises in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin about half of the locations are franchised, while the others are owned by the corporation...
, California Pizza Kitchen
California Pizza Kitchen
California Pizza Kitchen , known within the food industry as CPK, is a casual dining restaurant chain that specializes in California-style pizza...
, Godfather's Pizza
Godfather's Pizza
Godfather's Pizza is a privately owned restaurant chain headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska that operates fast casual Italian franchises. -History:...
, and Round Table Pizza
Round Table Pizza
Round Table Pizza is a large chain of pizza parlors in the western United States. The company's headquarters are located in Concord, California.The company slogan for many years has been "The Last Honest Pizza".- History :...
.
Today, the American pizza business is dominated by companies that specialize in pizza delivery, such as Domino's, Papa John's Pizza
Papa John's Pizza
Papa John's Pizza is the third largest take-out and delivery pizza restaurant chain in the United States, behind Pizza Hut and Domino's Pizza. It is based in Louisville, Kentucky. Papa John's slogan is "Better Ingredients. Better pizza. Papa John's"...
, Giordano's Pizza, Pizza Ranch
Pizza Ranch
The Pizza Ranch, Inc., founded in 1981, is a "fast casual" restaurant chain. Pizza Ranch offers pizza, chicken, a salad bar, and a pizza and chicken buffet. Pizza Ranch has over 145 locations in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Kansas...
, Mazzio's
Mazzio's
Mazzio's Corporation is the parent company of Mazzio's Italian Eatery and the former parent company of Zio's Italian Kitchen. In November 2007 Zio's Italian Kitchen was sold to a private company....
, and Godfather's Pizza
Godfather's Pizza
Godfather's Pizza is a privately owned restaurant chain headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska that operates fast casual Italian franchises. -History:...
. Pizza Hut has shifted its emphasis away from pizza parlors and toward home delivery. Another recent development is the take-and-bake pizzeria, such as Papa Murphy's
Papa Murphy's
Papa Murphy's, a business based in Vancouver, Washington, United States, is a take-and-bake pizza company.-History:The chain of take and bake pizzerias traces its history back to 1981, when the Papa Aldo's Pizza chain was begun in Hillsboro, Oregon. Three years later Murphy's Pizza chain began in...
,[Little Caesars] Little Caesars
Little Caesars
Little Caesars is a pizza chain, estimated to be the 4th largest in the United States. The Little Caesars headquarters is located in the Fox Theatre building in Downtown Detroit, Michigan.-History:...
.
On November 17th, 2011, the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
declared a serving of pizza to be an adequate serving of vegetables. This was mainly decided after much lobbying by the frozen food industries, despite protest from potato farmers.
Etymology
The first recorded use of the word "pizza" dates from 997 AD and comes from a Latin text from the town of Gaeta in southern Italy. The origins of the word are uncertain and disputed. The following are seven theories of its derivation:- The Ancient GreekAncient GreekAncient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
word πικτή (pikte), "fermented pastry", which in Latin became "picta", and Late LatinLate LatinLate Latin is the scholarly name for the written Latin of Late Antiquity. The English dictionary definition of Late Latin dates this period from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD extending in Spain to the 7th. This somewhat ambiguously defined period fits between Classical Latin and Medieval Latin...
pitta > pizza. See Greek pitta bread and Apulia and Calabria cuisine "Pitta" - The Ancient GreekAncient GreekAncient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
word πίσσα (pissa, Attic πίττα, pitta), "pitch", or ptea, "bran", (pétítés, "bran bread"). - The Latin word “pinsa”, the past participle of the verb “pinsere” which means to pound or to crush and may refer to the flattening out of the dough.
- The Latin word “picea” which describes the blackening of bread in the oven or the black ash that gathers at the bottom of the oven.
- The Italian word “pizzicare” meaning “to pluck” and refers to pizza being “plucked” quickly from the oven (“Pizzicare” was derived from an older Italian word "pizzo" meaning “point”).
- The Aramaic word “pita” (as פיתא) which exists in the Babylonian Talmud, referring to bread in general, tracing the word to a cognate for pine pitch, which forms flat layers that may resemble pita bread.
- The Old High GermanOld High GermanThe term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...
word “bizzo” or “pizzo” meaning “mouthful” (related to the English words “bit” and “bite”) and was brought to Italy in the middle of the 6th century AD by the invading LombardsLombardsThe Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...
. This is the origin favoured by the Oxford English DictionaryOxford English DictionaryThe Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
though they state that it remains unattested.