A Short History of Pizza
It is not conclusive when precisely did pizza emerge at its position as one of the tremendously popular dishes in the United States, but nearly everybody will unquestionably concur that pizza has become America's preferred grub over the past 40 years. Millions of pizza pies are eaten daily, but how often do the people eating the food stop to consider the history? The actual origins of this fine cuisine are as colorful as any good pizza pie heaping with toppings.
If you go out into the streets and start asking people where they suppose pizza came from, chances are you will get answers pointing to the common belief that Italians created the pizza. Even so, the origins go back to the ancient times. Despite the fact that we have yet to uncover archeological evidence of a Dominos Pizza before the last century, it is widely recognized that the Babylonians, Israelites, Egyptians and other ancient Middle Eastern cultures were consuming flat, unleavened bread that had been prepared in mud ovens.
The bread was very much like a pita, which is still common in Greece and the Middle East today. Besides, it is well-known that ancient Mediterranean people such as the Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks were eating the bread, topped seasoned with olive oil and native spices.
The lower class of Naples, Italy is considered to have created pizza in a more familiar fashion. In the late 1800s, an Italian baker by the name of Raffaele Esposito, was considered to have produced such a dish for traveling royals. Fitting in with the narrative, the Italian monarch King Umberto and his consort, Queen Margherita were touring the area. In order to impress them and to show his devoted zeal, Raffaele opted to include some toppings to his flat bread with food that would best symbolize the colors of Italy: red tomato, white mozzarella cheese and green basil. The king and queen were so impressed that word quickly reached the masses. The end results were that the dish was well received to the point that others began to reproduce it.
By the beginning of the 1900s pizza made its way to the inner urban centres of the United States, thanks to Italian immigrants. The people of New York and Chicago were among the foremost diners to taste and enjoy their first slices of pizza, due to those cities having voluminous Italian populations. Small cafes began offering the Italian favorite . American soldiers further prompted the dish to become very popular at the end of World War II , having been exposed to it while fighting on the Italian front.
Today pizza has become just as American as baseball and apple pie. Only because of its most current bloodlines is it regarded an Italian dish. Huge U. S. based multi-billion dollar companies which depend on the pizza for their earnings should be grateful for the evolution of this delicious dish, along with countless poor college students who can appreciate the fine dining experience pizza has given them.
Jane Huntington is an avid cook and writer working for http://www.cindykitchen.com, where you can get all the best restaurant and pizza supplies at the best prices. Visit us for all your restaurant supplies wholesale needs.
Published May 11th, 2007
Filed in Recreation