Pizza, a question of life and bread: the story behind pizza

Amidst all wars, destruction, financial and humanitarian crises, mayhem, and pandemics, we as people of the world seem to have forgotten there is another important question to settle. Maybe the most important question of all; how came the pizza by its name?

Just so you know ?

We all know, and love, the best-known export product of Italy (after the Mafia, of course- which we also all know about, maybe love a bit less…). Whether it is a Quatro Stazione or a Margarita, everybody enjoys a slice of pizza or two from time to time. Okay, okay- daily…

But from time to time, the question arises WHY is the pizza called a pizza?

This is the moment schisms between the best of friends or even family members, are possible.

Is it because the pizza was a dish originally from Pisa? Did the Italians steal it from the Turks, who have a similar bread, called pitta?

As it turns out, it’s none of the above.

A little bit of history ?

Pizza is an Umbrella term for quite a range of different kinds of takeaway, ready-to-eat bread. It has a long history, dating back to the Romans, who sold pizza-like snacks filled with meat, spices, and vegetables along to citizens in the busy streets of imperial Rome. Of course-, the Romans did not use tomatoes in their recipes, since the Americas were not discovered yet, so these snacks looked a lot less colorful.

Flatbread, called pita, was for centuries the most common staple food in Europe and around the mediterranean sea. It was around long before the Turks even arrived in the region. Some people never ate anything else in their life.

In northern Europe, the flatbread initially was used as an edible plate ( which was quite practical, since in those days they had no dishwashers), which in some countries, like Engeland, evolved in so-called pies- for example, Shepherds pie, actually meant as portable meals for shepherds and, later, miners. If you read carefully, you see the words “pie” and “pizza” bear a linguistic similarity.

In Italy, artistic bakers used new vegetables (imported from America, like the tomato, or pomo Doro) to create colorful toppings- not only for pizzas but also focaccia in many versions.

Pizza toppings can be quite different in nature. The Margherita, symbolizing the Italian flag with its red, white, and green, is an almost vegetarian version, while other ones are a little tray of meat or a bit fishy, like the tuna pizza. Pizza topping may even be controversial; lots of friendships and even marriages were broken up over the moral dilemma of pineapple was acceptable on the pizza Hawaii…

Okay!!?

So there you have it; pizza is the result of centuries of evolution in baking and serving flatbread.

Chew on that for a while….

…That’s it, the story behind pizza!