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More Than You
Ever Wanted To Know About Pizza

Pizza is a type of bread and dish that has existed since time immemorial in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine. By 997 the term had appeared in 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 white sauce. This was later replaced by oil, cheese, tomatoes (after the discovery of America) 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.

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 Sardinia, 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)[3] which was flavored with toppings like herbs, onion, and garlic. It is said that soldiers of the Persian King, Darius the Great (521-486 BCE) baked a flat bread on their shields and then covered it with cheese and dates.

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 or Piadina in the Romagna part of Emilia-Romagna in Italy. Similar flat breads in other parts of the world include the Indian Paratha, the South Asian Naan, the Sardinian Carasau, Spianata, Guttiau, Pistoccu, the Alsatian Flammkuchen and Finnish Rieska.

The innovation that gave us the flat bread we call pizza was the use of tomato 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.

Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba in NaplesUntil about 1830, pizza was sold from open-air stands and out of pizza bakeries. Pizzerias keep this age-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."

In December 2009, the pizza napoletana was granted Traditional Speciality Guaranteed status by the European Union.

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