History of pizza
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The history of food items which may have served as the roots of modern pizza can be traced to the ancient Greek colony of Naples in Magna Graecia (southern Italy).[citation needed] Such products arguably have their first written mention in Book VII of Virgil’s Aeneid:
- Their homely fare dispatch’d, the hungry band
- Invade their trenchers next, and soon devour,
- To mend the scanty meal, their cakes of flour.
- Ascanius this observ’d, and smiling said:
- “See, we devour the plates on which we fed.”
In the 3rd century BC, the first history of Rome, written by Cato the Elder, mentions a “flat round of dough dressed with olive oil, herbs, and honey baked on stones”[citation needed]; placenta was a “sheet of fine flour filled with cheese and honey and flavored with bay leaves”[1]. Further evidence is found in Pompeii, the city “frozen in time” since AD 79, where archaeologists have excavated shops that closely resemble modern pizzerias[citation needed].
Though several kinds of flat bread made with flour, often cooked with oil and spices, were familiar to ancient Romans and popular in all the Mediterranean area, they were considerably different from pizza as it is known today. "Il sangue di Maiale" (literally meaning pig's blood) and honey were popular dough spreads until the tomato came about. The tomato was still unknown in Europe and the Indian water buffalo, whose milk is used to make the real mozzarella cheese, had not yet been imported to Campania, the area around Napoli. The crust of pizza is very similar to focaccia bread common in Italian cuisine today.
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). By the late 18th century, however, it was common for the poor of the area around Naples to add tomato to their yeast-based flat bread, and the dish gained in popularity. Pizza became a tourist attraction, and 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 street vendors out of pizza bakeries. The world’s first true pizzeria, Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba, opened in Naples in that period. A description of pizza in Naples around 1830 is given by the french writer and food expert Alexandre Dumas in his work "Le Corricolo", Chapter VIII [2]. 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".
[edit] Pizza in the United States of America
Invented in Italy, pizza first made its appearance in the United States with the arrival of Italian immigrants in the late 19th century. This was certainly the case in cities with large Italian populations, such as San Francisco, 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, crying his wares at two cents a chew. This was the traditional 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 wasn't long until small cafes and groceries began offering pizzas to their Italian-American communities.
The first "official" pizzeria in America is disputable, but it is generally believed to have been founded by Gennaro Lombardi in Little Italy, Manhattan. Gennaro Lombardi opened a grocery store in 1897 which later was 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 an entire pizza was five cents, but since many people couldn't afford the cost of a whole pie, they could 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.[3]
Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana in New Haven, Connecticut, makes a similar claim to being the first pizzeria. Inheriting the recipe from a series of Italian immigrants who had served New Haven pizza for decades, the heavenly pie in New Haven formally culminated in the opening of the Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana in 1925. Frank Pepe's nephew Sal Consiglio opened a competing store, Sally's, across the street in 1938. Both establishments are still run by descendents of the original family. When Sal died, over 2000 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. [1] [2]
Prior to the 1940's pizza consumption was limited mostly to Italian Immigrants and their descendents. 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[4], the modern pizza industry was born in the Midwestern United States. Ike Sewell pioneered what became known as the deep dish pizza when, in 1943, he opened Pizzeria Uno in Chicago, and a generation later, Tom Monaghan launched what soon became known as Domino's Pizza and introduced home delivery[4].
When American soldiers returned home from World War II, they brought back an appreciation for pizza. In 1948, the first commercial pizza-pie mix — ‘Roman Pizza Mix‘ — was produced in Worcester, Mass., by Frank A. Fiorillo.
With its rising popularity, chain restaurants moved in. Leading early pizza chains were Shakey's Pizza and Pizza Hut, both founded in 1954, in Sacramento, California and Wichita, Kansas, respectively.
Later entrant restaurant chains to the dine-in pizza market were Bertucci's, Happy Joe's, California Pizza Kitchen, Godfather's Pizza, and Round Table Pizza.
Today, the American pizza business is dominated by companies that specialize in pizza delivery. Besides Domino's, this includes Little Caesar's, Papa John's Pizza, Giordano's Pizza and Godfather's Pizza. Pizza Hut has also 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, at which raw pizzas are made from fresh ingredients and taken home to be baked in the customers' own ovens.
