Pizza

Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, round bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings. The modern pizza was invented in Naples, Italy, and the dish has since become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria". Many varieties of pizza exist worldwide, along with several dish variants based upon pizza. Pizza is cooked in various types of ovens, and a diverse variety of ingredients and toppings are utilized. In 2009, upon Italy's request, Neapolitan pizza was safeguarded in the European Union as a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed dish.

Modern pizza originated in Italy as the Neapolitan flatbread.

A popular urban legend holds that the archetypal pizza, Pizza Margherita, was invented in 1889, when the Royal Palace of Capodimonte commissioned the Neapolitan pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito to create a pizza in honor of the visiting Queen Margherita. Of the three different pizzas he created, the Queen strongly preferred a pie swathed in the colors of the Italian flag: red (tomato), green (basil), and white (mozzarella). Supposedly, this kind of pizza was then named after the Queen as Pizza Margherita, though recent research casts doubt on this legend.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org

Some facts regarding Pizza:

• Pizza was first made by the Greeks. Contrary to popular belief, the first actual pizza was made by Greeks who used to bake large, round, flat breads and top them with olive oil, spices, potatoes and other vegetables. The first commercial pizza was developed in Italy in the 18th century, where they were commonly sold in markets and on street corners. The world's first pizzeria opened in Naples, Italy.
• Cheese wasn't added to pizza until the late 1800s. Early versions of pizza included no cheese or tomatoes. In 1889, Italian pizza chef Raffaele Esposito added cheese to a pizza specially made for Queen Margherita. The resulting masterpiece, known today as the Margherita pizza, contained cheese, basil, and tomato sauce-all ingredients chosen to represent the colors of the Italian flag. In America, the first pizzas were known as tomato pies.
• Americans eat more pizza on Super Bowl Sunday than any day of the year. It's estimated that 58 percent of Americans order pizza the day of the Super Bowl, making it the biggest takeout day of the pizza year calendar.
• Frozen pizzas were invented in the 1950s. Frozen pizzas were introduced to Americans by the Celentano Brothersin 1957. At that time, frozen pizzas were only available in grocery stores. Within a few short years, pizza became the most popular frozen food sold in the United States and today can be found in bars, grocery stores, convenience stores and gas stations.
• Pepperoni is the most popular pizza topping in America. In the United States, 36 percent of all pizza orders are for pepperoni, making it the most popular American pizza topping. Approximately 251,770,000 pounds of pepperoni topping is sold in America each year. In India, the most ordered toppings are pickled ginger, minced mutton and tofu.
• 93 percent of Americans eat pizza once a month. Pizza is one of the most popular foods in America with 93 percent of the population eating pizza at least once per month. The average American consumes 46 slices of pizza per year.
• Saturday night is the biggest night of the week for eating pizza worldwide.
• There are 69,000 pizzerias in the United States.
• Thin crust pizza is preferred by most pizza eaters. Despite the invention of the popular Chicago deep dish pizza and other similar thicker crusts, thin crust pizza remains the most popular crust across the world. More than 61 percent of all pizza orders are for the thin crust variety.
• The world's largest pizza was build in 1987. Lorenzo Amato and Louis Piancone made a pizza that covered 10,000 square feet and weighed 44, 457 pounds in Havana, Florida. The gigantic pie was cut into 94,248 pieces and eaten by spectators.

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza

http://voices.yahoo.com

Posted in: Culinary,Italy