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The
History behind the modern pizza...
Considered a
peasant's meal in Italy for centuries, modern pizza is attributed to
baker Raffaele Esposito of Napoli (Naples) in the Italian region of
Campania, who in 1889 created a pizza especially for the visit of
Italian King Umberto and Queen Margherita. The pizza, named Pizza
Margherita after the queen, was very patriotic and resembled the
Italian flag with its colors of red (tomatoes), white (mozzarella
cheese), and green (basil), and got rave reviews. It set the
standard by which today's pizza evolved. The idea of using bread as
a plate came from the Greeks, who ate flat round bread (plankuntos)
baked with an assortment of toppings. The tomato came to Italy from
Mexico and Peru through Spain in the 16th century as an ornamental
plant first thought to be poisonous. True mozzarella is made from
the milk of the water buffalo imported from India to Campania in the
7th century. So the Neopolitan baker, as the saying goes, put it all
together. Also, in 1830 the world's first true pizzeria, Antica
Pizzeria Port' Alba in Naples, opened and is still in business
today!
Pizza migrated
to America with the Italians. Gennaro Lombardi opened the first U.S.
pizzeria in 1905 in New York City at 53 1/3 Spring Street, but it
wasn't until after World War II when returning GI's created a
nationwide demand for the pizza they had eaten and loved in Italy
that pizza went public. For many, their first recollection of pizza
is homemade "box" pizza (Chef Boyardee) with canned pizza
sauce and parmesan cheese. In the late 1950's, Shakey's and various
other mass production pizza parlors appeared and further popularized
pizza.
Pizza in this
day and age is not limited to the flat round type. It's also
deep-dish pizza, stuffed pizza, pizza pockets, pizza turnovers,
rolled pizza, pizza-on-a-stick, pizza strudel, etc., all with
combinations of sauce, cheese, and toppings limited only by one's
inventiveness. However, the best pizza still comes from the
individual pizzaiolo, a pizza baker, who prepares his yeast dough
and ingredients daily and heats his oven for hours before baking the
first pizza.
 Some
More Pizza Facts...
The first
pizzeria opened in New York on 53 1/2 Spring Street in 1895. Between
1948 and 1956 oregano sales increased 5200%. This was due to the
growing popularity of pizza and other Italian specialties discovered
by US servicemen stationed in Europe. Pizza Hut opens its first
store in Kansas City in 1958. Domino's Pizza opened its doors in
Detroit in 1960. The store was bought by a 23 year old investor
named Thomas Monaghan, who borrowed $500 to buy the store.
- In 1994,
total pizza sales in the United States exceeded $20 billion.
- The 1995
Guinness Book of World Records lists the largest baked pizza on
record was 37.4 meters in diameter (12,159 sq.ft.), in Norwood,
South Africa December 8th 1990. Another notable pizza by size
was a 10,000 sq.ft. pizza cooked by Lorenzo Amato, owner of Cafe
di Lorenzo in Tallahassee Florida in 1991.
- The first
known pizza shop, Port 'Alba in Naples, opened in 1830 and is
still open today.
- 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 delivery was in 1889, by Raffaele Esposito owner of the
famous pizzeria Pietro il Pizzaiolo (Naples). The recipients
were visiting King Umberto I and Queen Margherita. Refusing to
go to the likes of a pizzeria, the queen ordered in, being
anxious to try this food she heard so much about.
- The first
commercial pizza-pie mix was "Roman Pizza Mix",
produced in 1948 in Worcester, Massachusetts by Frank A.
Fiorello.
- The
mozzarella originally used in Italy for pizza, was made from the
milk of the water buffalo.
- The tomato
arrived in Naples, Italy around 1522 originating from seeds
first arriving in Spain from Peru. Initially grown only as an
ornamental plant, the 'golden apple', so called because they
were small and yellow, were thought to be poisonous until around
1750, when it began to be used in cooking.
- The origins
of focaccia, one of the oldest styles of pizza (without the
tomato) can be traced back to about 1000 B.C.E., when the
Etruscans arrived in northern and central parts of Italy from
Asia Minor.
- Pizza is
the number 2 entree in food service, outpacing the growth rate
of all other food items. It represents more than 10% of all food
sales and is expected to exceed the hamburger 1996.
- Tuna is one
of the most popular toppings in Europe.
- North
Americans eat more pizza than anyone else in the world, yet most
are acquainted with little beyond the basic tomato and cheese
style.
- There are
three major regional styles of pizza in the US. In the East,
pizza is the traditional Neapolitan type with a light, thin
crust, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and a vegetable or meat
topping. It is more commonly known as New York-style. On the
West Coast, pizza takes on a sophisticated look. Individual
pizzettes with light, chewy crusts and toppings ranging from
sundried tomatoes to asparagus to boccocini cheese are the norm.
The Midwestern states prefer the deep-dish Chicago style, a
thick creation heaped with toppings requiring up to 45 minutes
to bake.
- Cookbooks
specializing in Italian recipes have no reference to pizza prior
to the 1950's.
- In
non-Italian communities in the eastern states, pizza can be
heard to be referred to as "tomato pie
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