The History of Pizza

The History of Pizza Pie

Pizza Pie

Considered a peasant's meal in Italy for centuries we cannot say who invented the very first pizza pie. Food historians agree that pizza like dishes were eaten by many peoples in the Mediterranean including the Greeks and Egyptians.

However, modern pizza has been attributed to baker Raffaele Esposito of Naples. In 1889, Esposito who owned a restaurant called the Pizzeria di Pietro baked what he called "pizza" especially for the visit of Italian King Umberto I and Queen Margherita.

The first pizzeria in North America was opened in 1905 by Gennaro Lombardi at 53 1/3 Spring Street in New York City.

The first "Pizza Hut" a chain of pizza restaurants appeared in the United States during the 1930s.

Frozen pizza was invented by Rose Totino.

Pizza Package Saver

Have you ever wondered, "Who invented the circular thing that keeps the pizza from hitting the inside of the box top?" Well wonder no longer the package saver for pizza and cakes was invented by Carmela Vitale of Dix Hills, NY, who filed for US patent #4,498,586 on February 10, 1983, issued on February 12, 1985.

Pizza Topping Trivia

Americans eat approximately 350 slices of pizza per second. And 36 percent of those pizza slices are pepperoni slices, making pepperoni the number one choice among pizza toppings in the United States. However, in India pickled ginger, minced mutton, and paneer cheese are the favorite toppings for pizza slices. In Japan, Mayo Jaga (a combination of mayonnaise, potato and bacon), eel and squid are the favorites. Green peas rock Brazilian pizza shops and Russians love red herring pizza.

The History of Pizza

“We live in an age when pizza gets to your home before the police.” Jeff Arder

The history of pizza has been, and is contentious, for we can never know which nation invented pizza, but pizza history is no less colorful for that fact. As we cannot know the date when the first pizza was invented ,we can only speculate who invented pizza.

Pizza, as we know it today, is a bread crust covered with a tomato base and then flavored with other toppings. Yet tomatoes did not appear on European menus until the Sixteenth Century, when they were brought over from the New World by the Spanish conquistadors. Pizza as we know it today, with a crust, tomato and other toppings, was even later in history; it did not originate until the eighteenth Century in Naples .

Italian folklore claims that the first pizza was Italian, and it is certain that in ancient times the ancient Greeks and Romans had a type of unleavened bread, topped with a flavor before being baked. We know from historical writings that the Greek pizza was merely vegetables, but the origin of the pizza in Italy was more sophisticated. It was topped with pork scraps, olives and the sweet desserts with honey, raisins and pine nuts. Some of those sweet dessert pizza recipes have been enshrined in pizza history and are still used in Italy today.

Date: 2016-01-03; view: 1291