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A History of Pizza | History Today
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The world's favorite fast food
Pizza is the world's favorite fast food, with some three billion pizza sold every year in the US alone.
The story of how pizza became so popular reveals much about the history of migration, economics, and technological change.
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History of Pizza
Pizza - pieces of flatbread, topped with savories - was a simple and tasty meal for those who could not afford plates.
- Early pizzas appear in Virgil's Aeneid. Aeneas and his crew ate thin wheaten cakes with mushrooms and herbs scattered on them.
- In the 18th century Naples, pizza as we know it came into being. With a struggling urban economy and a great number of poor inhabitants, they needed food that was cheap and easy to eat. Pizza met this need.
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Pizzas were scorned
For a long time, pizzas were associated with poverty and scorned by food writers.
In 1831, Samuel Morse described pizza as a ‘species of the most nauseating cake … covered over with slices of pomodoro or tomatoes, and sprinkled with little fish and black pepper and I know not what other ingredients, it altogether looks like a piece of bread that has been taken reeking out of the sewer.’
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Pizzas gain popularity
While on a visit to Naples in 1889, King Umberto I and Queen Margherita grew tired of the complicated French dishes they were served. Three sorts of pizza were offered to the queen: one with lard, caciocavallo, and basil; another with cecenielli; and a third with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil.
The queen was delighted. Her favorite – the last of the three – was named Pizza Margherita in her honor.
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The migration
- From the 1930s onward, a number of Neapolitans moved northward, taking their cuisine with them.
- When Allied soldiers invaded Italy in 1943, they so liked the pizza that they asked for it wherever they went.
- After the war, tourists became increasingly curious about Italian food, including pizza.
- In America, by the end of the 19th century, Italian emigrants had reached the East Coast, and in 1905 the first pizzeria was opened in New York City.
- Shortly after the US entered World War II, a Texan opened Chicago pizzeria. He offered the dish with a thicker crust and with more toppings, usually with cheese at the bottom and chunky tomato sauce on top.
- In the 1950s, the pizza became more domesticated. Frozen pizza was designed to be taken home and baked at will.
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The Mediterranean diet
It is not a weight-loss regime such as the Atkins or Dukan diets. It is actually not a prescriptive diet at all, rather a pattern of eating.
It is based on a rural life where people at...
Principles of the Mediterranean diet
- It is based on large amounts of fruit and vegetables, legumes, whole grains and especially olive oil.
- Fish and seafood depends on how close to the sea you live.
- Chicken, eggs and small amounts of dairy, such as cheese and yoghurt, are there in moderation.
- The diet includes a small amount of wine with meals
- It is quite a high-carbohydrate diet (pasta, bread and potatoes).
- Red meat and sweets would rarely be consumed.
- It is accompanied by quite a lot of physical activity.
The Mediterranean diet is more than food on a plate
- It emphasises values of hospitality, neighbourliness, intercultural dialogue and creativity, and a way of life guided by respect for diversity.
- Shared family meals help people eat well and avoid excess, while the TV dinner habit is linked to obesity.
- It involves a set of skills, knowledge, rituals, symbols and traditions concerning crops, harvesting, fishing, animal husbandry, conservation, processing, cooking and particularly the sharing and consumption of food.
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The discovery of sushi
Nowadays sushi is maybe the most cherished dish in Japan. And most of us tend to believe that it originates from Japanese areas. However, Sushi has first appeared and started being cooked in Thaila...
The arrival of sushi in Japan
Around 718 sushi had finally reached Japan, after having been discovered and consumed in Thailand and Vietnam for quite a while. While glorified for its taste, it was found unworthy because of its smell.
Actually it was the Muromachi period, between 1338 and 1573, that made sushi lose its smell by changing the way people cooked it. During the 12th century, an update was going to be made in regards to the preparation of sushi, which eventually led to it being consumed in big amount by artisans, warriors, merchants and nobles.
The different ways of cooking sushi
- During the 17th century, sushi started being cooked in a faster, however still delicious way: haya-zushi involved using vinegard and let it work its wonders on the fish for a few days.
- In the 1820s or 1830s a new alternative to prepare sushi emerged: Edo-mae, which brought about the idea of cooking sushi even faster.
- Starting with 1923, this way of preparing the already beloved dish has become popular throughout Japan.
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The first Ice Cream Cup
The first ice cream cup was found in Egypt in a tomb in 2700BC.
It was a kind of mould made from two silver cups, one of which contained snow or crushed ice, and the other ...
Ice Cream: The Early Days
- Ancient Rome had special wells to store ice and snow. The ruins of Pompeii left traces to make us think that some shops specialised in selling crushed ice sweetened with honey.
- In China and Japan, ice was gathered to preserve food. During the Tang Dynasty, a drink was recorded, consisting of milk cooked with flour and camphor, ten placed in iron containers, and buried in snow.
- Before the Incas conquered the Caranquis, large blocks of ice were brought down from the top of the volcano. A large cauldron was filled with ice, snow, and fruit juice (and sometimes milk), and mixed until the juices and ice froze together.
Ice Cream Legends
- One legend claims that the Medici family organised a competition for the most original culinary recipes. It was won by a chicken seller (a Ruggeri) who submitted a composition of water, sugar, and fruit. It is thought that Catherine de' Medici brought Ruggeri and his ice cream arts across the Alps.
- Another half legend is about the architect Bernardo Buontalenti, who invented an iced dessert for Charles V of Spain in 1559, at a famous inaugural fest for the Belvedere Fort of Cosimo I de' Medici. His recipe is recorded as cold cream made of milk, honey, egg yolk, a sprinkle of wine, aromatised with bergamot, lemon, and orange.