Where Did Pizza Originate? Pizza in Today’s World
This a fun one for me, Where did pizza originate? We have been eating Pizza for years now but how many people care about Pizza and where it came from? Well, you are the lucky person. Follow as I tell you a bit about how Pizza came to be.
Where Did Pizza Originate?
Believe it or not, pizza has been around for thousands of years, with its origins traced back to flatbreads with toppings popular among ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans.
However, modern pizza, which consists of flatbreads topped with tomato sauce, cheese, and toppings, originated on Italy’s western coast near Naples.
Naples has a rich history, reaching back to 600 B.C. when the Greeks first landed there. Naples eventually grew into a prosperous city on the water.
Naples was a thriving city in the 18th and 19th centuries, with a dense population and a reputation for a large number of poor, working-class residents.
Those people needed food! This meant cheap meals that could be eaten fast because they spent so much of their time outside.
Flatbreads supplied by street sellers were subsequently topped with tomatoes, cheese, garlic, anchovies, and oil, becoming the food of the day, available for every meal and easily affordable to all.
And thus, pizza was created! That’s correct, since the beginning, people have eaten pizza for breakfast! (Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise!)
When the King and Queen of Italy visited Naples in 1889, they sampled a variety of pizzas at the city’s local Pizzeria Brandi. According to legend, the king and queen were dissatisfied with their high-class French meals and desired something different.
They discovered their new favorite, a pizza called the pizza mozzarella. The pie was covered with white cheese, red tomatoes, and green basil, and it was renamed Margherita pizza after the queen.
Despite this royal recognition, pizza remained relatively unknown in Italy outside of Naples until the 1940s.
Pizza in the New World
Immigrants from Naples were landing in America, looking for fresh opportunities! Millions of European immigrants at the time worked in factories and other industries, but they also brought their favorite meal, pizza!
As the Neapolitans cooked pizzas for themselves, the taste spread, and soon pizza businesses sprouted up in New York, Boston, Trenton, and elsewhere, much to the joy of everyone!
Lombardi’s, named after its owner Gennaro Lombardi, started in Manhattan as one of the first pizzerias in the United States. Today, 116 years (!) later, Lombardi’s is still selling slices from the same oven! They moved the oven with them.
It was just a matter of time until pizza spread across the country, especially among Italian-Americans. After World War II, pizza became a staple of American food culture, no longer considered an exotic dish.
New regional versions emerged in the Midwest and South, and, of course, New York-style pizza was established.
When pizza ultimately took over America, it became another American cultural export to the rest of the globe, similar to Coca-Cola and Elvis. Other countries began eating pizza because it was American. The rest of Italy has finally gotten the big concept!
So, who invented pizza? The ancient inhabitants living near the Mediterranean made the first step by eating all their flatbreads with toppings. Then the people of Naples adopted it and invented pizza as we know it today.
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