THE EVOLUTION OF PIZZA
If you order a “peperoni“ pizza in Italy, you won’t get this, but a pizza with bell peppers (peperoni). This is pizza would be called salamino piccante (spicy salame) or Diavola (the devil’s pizza).
Nearly every ancient culture around the Mediterranean, the Egyptians, Romans, Persians consumed some kind of flatbread, it was everywhere in the Ancient World. The origin of the word “pizza”, comes from “pinsa” a word from the 9th century which comes from the verb “pinsere”, which means to beat or to press. This term is still used today to describe a type of focaccia or thin and crispy Roman pizza, which usually contains rice flour.
To better understand the history of this iconic dish, we can examine what we today consider to be the three main ingredients: dough, tomato and cheese. Like we mentioned before, the dough is the oldest part of this trio, dating back to ancient times, the ingredients used were simple and very similar if not the same in all cultures; flour, water, some kind of fat (olive oil, or lard) and yeast.
In Medieval Italy this flatbread or “pinsa” was then seasoned in order to give it some flavor with whatever was available to the families. While noble or wealthy families added basil and cheese, poorer families added coarse salt and olive oil.
What made flatbreads evolve into pizza was the European colonization of America, as Europeans found out about the tomato and brought it back to their countries. By the 18th century tomatoes were a popular topping amongst the lower classes, in the cities of the Bay of Naples. Hence the birth of the “Marinara” pizza, which you can still find in menus all over Italy. Topped with tomato sauce, garlic, oregano and olive oil this type of pizza was popular with seafarers (marinai in Italian) as it could be folded up and eaten as lunch on the go.This humble household recipe quickly became a booming industry and by 1807 there were already 54 pizzerias in Naples.
According to oral traditions and folklore what today we consider the standard margherita pizza, containing tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and basil was invented in 1889. This pizza was created by Neapolitan Raffaele Esposito, in honor of Queen Margherita di Savoia, Esposito wished to honor the queen and the recently unified kingdom of Italy by emulating the colors of its flag; red, white and green.
Eventually pizza was exported by Italians wherever they emigrated and is now a beloved dish all over the world, with nearly infinite variations and local styles. Although to try the most authentic and delicious pizza in the world you will have to travel to the beautiful city of Naples.
