What is Pizza?
Ingredients Used in Pizza
History of Pizza
Royal Inspiration
Pizza in America
Interesting Facts about Pizza
Pizza is a leavened dough in Italian cuisine. Many materials can be placed on it. Apart from the main ingredients such as cheese, sausage, tomato, salami, pepper, olive and corn, there are also pizzas with many different ingredients. Further, many types of pizza have been developed, especially in its homeland of Italy and the USA. Since pizza is served to homes in many parts of the world, its consumption is quite high. Pizza is a dish invented during the war. During the war, Italian women found pizza by putting the ingredients they found on a dough due to lack. History of Pizza will be explained below.
Ingredients Used in Pizza
- Mozzarella cheese
- Feta cheese
- Chili pepper
- Sweetcorn
- Green pepper
- Onion
- Black olive
- Green olive
- Mushrooms
- Spicy ground beef
- Dried basil
- Spinach
- Broccoli
- Cube Chicken
- Cube Turkey
- Tomatoes
- Bacon
- Sausage
- Pepperoni
- Salami
- Cube Sausage
- Ham
- Sausage
- Tuna
- Roasted Red Pepper
- Oregano
- Garlic
- Jalapeno
History of Pizza
Food historians agree that pizza-like dishes (i.e. oils, seasonings, and other toppings) were eaten in the Mediterranean by many people, including the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. While writing Roman history in the third century, Cato the Elder described pizza-like rounds of bread topped with olives and herbs. Writing 200 years later, Virgil described similar foods in the “Aeneid,” and archaeologists excavating the remains of Pompeii have found kitchens and cooking utensils where these foods were produced in the city before the volcanic eruption.
Royal Inspiration
By the mid-1800s, flatbreads garnished with cheese and herbs were a common street food in Naples, Italy. In 1889, King Umberto I of Italy and Queen Margherita of Savoy visited the city. Legend has it that the queen summoned Raffaele Esposito, owner of a restaurant called Pizzeria di Pietro e Basta Cosi, to cook up some of these local treats.
Furthermore, Esposito allegedly created three variations, one of which is stuffed with mozzarella, basil and tomatoes to represent the three colors of the Italian flag. This was the queen’s favorite pizza, and she named it Pizza Margherita in honor of Esposito. While some food historians question whether Esposito actually invented the type of pizza he served Queen Margherita, the pizzeria proudly displays a thank you letter from the queen.
True or not, pizza is an integral part of Naples’ culinary history. In 2009, the European Union established standards for what can and cannot be labeled Neapolitan style pizza. Furthermore, according to Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, an Italian trade group dedicated to preserving Naples’ pizza heritage, a true Margherita pizza can only be topped with local San Marzano tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, buffalo mozzarella, and basil, and baked in a wood-fired oven.
Pizza in America
Moreover, in the late 19th century, large numbers of Italians began immigrating to the United States and brought their food with them. Further, Lombardi, the first pizzeria in North America, was opened in 1905 by Gennaro Lombardi on Spring Street in New York’s Little Italy neighborhood. You can still dine there today.
Afterwards, pizza gradually spread to New York, New Jersey, and other areas with large Italian immigrant populations. Famous for Chicago’s pizzerias, Pizzeria Uno opened in 1943. But pizza started to become popular with most Americans. Moreover, Pizza Hut opened its first restaurant in Wichita, Kansas, in 1958; Little Caesar followed a year later, and Domino’s arrived in 1960. Today, pizza is big business in the US and beyond.
Interesting Facts About Pizza
- Firstly, Americans eat about 350 slices of pizza per second. Thirty-six percent of these pizza slices are pepperoni, making the cured meat the #1 pizza sauce in the United States. Secondly, in India, pickled ginger, minced mutton and paneer cheese are favorite toppings for pizza slices. Thirdly, in Japan, Mayo Jaga (a combination of mayonnaise, potatoes, and bacon), eel, and squid are favorites. Green peas rock Brazilian pizza shops, and Russians love red herring pizza.
- Also, the word “pizza” was first used in a Latin text a thousand years ago. It comes from the Latin word Picea. Picea means blackening of the bark by fire.
- It is so popular among the American people that they celebrate October every year as “Pizza Month”.
- Lastly, a computer ordered the first pizzza in 1974. The USA’s Artificial Language Lab has successfully tested its “talking computer” by ordering a hot dog pizza from a pizza shop.
