This Food in History #2 Pizza
Welcome to This Food in History, today we are back in Italy and going to talk about Pizza. Pizza is the second biggest food associated with Italy, and fun fact, Pizza is one of the few words that has the same meaning all over the world.
We’ll be making a Napolian pizza, called Pizza Margherita. This pizza is named for Italy’s Queen Margherita who visited the Pizzeria Brandi in Naples in 1889. Rafaele Esposito created this for the Queen that contained the three colors of the new Italian flag. The red of tomato, white of the mozzarella, and fresh green basil. In order to qualify as a “real” Margherita, the pizza must be made from durum wheat flour, fresh yeast, water and sea salt, with a topping of olive oil, San Marzano tomatoes (in slices no thicker than 8mm) and mozzarella made from buffalo milk. Pizza must be round, made to order, and always cooked in a wood-fired oven.
I am not set up for any of that, but we’ll be doing our best.
There are obviously endless ways pizza can be made around the world, but for traditional and authentic Italian ways, there are a few staple types found all around Italy. All are to be made with the freshest of ingredients.
Among tomato-based pizzas, Marinara is the oldest of them all, as it was created in 1734. Simple and wholesome, it was topped with tomato sauce, garlic, oregano, and extra virgin olive oil. And it was called “marinara” because it was a favorite among fishermen!
Pizza Capricciosa with a topping of mushrooms, prosciutto, artichoke hearts, olives, and ½ a boiled egg! Pizza Pugliese makes use of local capers and olives, while pizza Veronese has mushrooms and tender prosciutto Crudo.
Quattro Formaggi uses a four-cheese combination of fresh mozzarella and three local kinds of cheese such as gorgonzola, ricotta, and Parmigiano Reggiano, or stronger cheeses such as fontina or taleggio
Pizza al taglio, also known as pizza rustica, is sold everywhere in Italy, usually by weight and often piled with marinated mushrooms, onions, or artichokes. This style of pizza is cooked on a sheet pan at street stalls
A newer trend that is gaining popularity is the emergence of sweet pizzas and traditional Italian pizzerias are trying to accommodate this trend by using unique ingredients. These dessert pizzas often have flavor combinations such as Nutella, honey, fruit jam, yogurt, even mustard, and liquor.
The Pizzafest is celebrated for 11 days long on a 30000 sqm territory in Naples, which is called the previously mentioned Napoli Pizza Village. pizza was born in Naples and this is why such a event takes place in the city. The first pizza day was arranged in Naples in 1995, with the Maschio Angioino as the breathtaking backdrop to the event.
Naples holds this event in honor of pizza every year: for 5 to 11 days. The most famous pizzerie from all over the world, compete against renowned local pizzaioli, who set up stands with tables where people can sit and taste different varieties of pizzas. At the end of the week-long celebration, a jury will judge, also by taking into account the opinion of all those who ate at the Pizzafest, the various pizzas and proclaim the best pizzaiolo in the world.
It seems the Etruscans — who lived in modern-day Tuscany and Latium between the 9th and 1st centuries BC — were the first people in Europe to enjoy baked, pizza-like flatbreads but as I also learned, baking was invented by the Egyptians!
The first written attestation of the word pizza dates back to 997 AD. It comes from the Latin pinsa, past participle of the verb pinsare, which means “to flatten out” and likely refers to the shape of pizza itself.
Several cultures including the Greeks and Phoenicians ate flatbread made from flour and water. The dough would be cooked by placing it on a hot stone and then seasoned with herbs. The Greeks called this early pizza plankuntos and it was basically used as an edible plate when eating stews or thick broth. It was not yet what we would call pizza today but it was very much like modern focaccia. These early pizzas were eaten from Rome to Egypt to Babylon and were praised by the ancient historians Herodotus and Cato the Elder.
The introduction of tomatoes to Italian cuisine in the 18th and early 19th centuries finally gave us the true modern Italian pizza. Even though tomatoes reached Italy by the 1530’s it was widely thought that they were poisonous and were grown only for decoration. However, the innovative peasants of Naples started using the supposedly deadly fruit in many of their foods, including their early pizzas
As pizza popularity increased, street vendors gave way to actual shops where people could order a custom pizza with many different toppings. By 1830 the “Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba” of Naples had become the first true pizzeria and this venerable institution is still producing masterpieces.
Pizzeria’s then expanded throughout Italy and eventually the world.
