The Ultimate History of Pizza

One of my favorite foods in the world is Pizza!! I have judged many of the International pizza championships and have tasted some of the world’s best pizza in many parts of Italy. Many people always ask about its origins and one of our editors- Patricia Mooney- has assisted me in putting together this bit of historical pizza info here:

Modern Italy is a rather young country. As a nation, Italy was only unified in 1870. However, this ancient land in south central Europe has been a center of culture for thousands of years. It was from this region that the Romans controlled their vast empire. It was there that the Roman Catholic Church chose to make its spiritual headquarters. And the Renaissance, one of the greatest periods in classical architecture, art, philosophy etc. began there in the 14th Century.

 

When most people think of Italian food they invariably think of spaghetti or pizza. While these are staple recipes they are an oversimplification. The popularity of pizza is much greater in America than in Italy.

 

Pizza finds its origins in the poorer regions in the history of Italy. Thrifty cooks would combine dough with handy ingredients and bake. It was inexpensive, simple to make, tasty, and utilized available ingredients. It fits into the ‘cucina povere’ that is now considered a gourmet type of cuisine.
Peasants used to cook with the most readily available ingredients that were least expensive- so pizza became and easy and affordable meal.
Today, eating a really great pizza made from probably those very same ingredients the peasants used- freshly produced mozzarella, freshly grown tomatoes, fresh basil- will make you feel like a king- not a peasant- how times have changed!!
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1 Comment

  1. food4thought

    Great article. My favorite food too. I like to cook it, serve it and eat it. I must be a Peasants. I dream of having my own pizzeria someday. Thanks for the information.

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