The pizza, its history, its customs, its varieties,...
Let's discover with us all there is to know about it. This round pizza dough, of 32 cm in diameter, on which are spread tomato sauce but also various and varied ingredients, is known internationally.
The world has agreed to attribute origin of the pizza to Italy, but each culture has made this dish its own thanks to the infinite number of possible variations. Thus, this dish whose base remains common to all, can make us travel in one bite depending on the associated ingredients.
Nowadays, pizza is so democratized that we almost forget its origins. Was it really invented by the Italians? Where does it actually come from and what is its history?
The original pizza
The pizza we currently know today did not come from nowhere. Although it obviously has an origin, the latter is a bit fuzzy and causes a lot of ink to flow. Whether on its history or even its etymology, the greatest specialists have difficulty in agreeing.
In order to understand the today's pizza, one would have to go back more than 3000 years and travel to the lands of the Assyrians in northern Mesopotamia. Their specialty called "lahmacun" which can be translated as "meat on dough" was a thin dough topped with meat, still known today as "Turkish pizza".
We can also refer to ancient Greece during which we could find pancakes made with flour, water and aromatic herbs. At that time, the "pizza" could take different forms and be eaten either salty or sweet.
In Greece, you can still find today the "pita" bread, a Turkish flatbread that accompanies meals. At that time, pizza is the poor man's meal. Bread dough was topped with whatever you could find, before or after it was baked to be made into a dish.
It is probably from this Greek name "pita" which means "fouace, pancake" that the etymology of the word pizza would have been born. Others speak of the German "bizoo" that means "piece of bread".
It is difficult to agree on the origin of the word or even the dish which is similar to many kinds of breads that are still found today around the Mediterranean basin.
The pizza in Italie
The Neapolitans were the first and the only ones for a long time to offer the pizzas that would become the ones we know today.
In a context of poverty and popular catering, the bakers of the 16th century already offered, to people who could not afford to eat at home, simple focaccia-type pizza dough. In the 17th century, people began to add lard, cheese and basil to decorate the dough, which corresponds to the first steps of the pizza bianca.
It wasn't until the 18th century that pizza met tomato. Then it becomes the star of the Neapolitan trade by becoming the favorite dish thanks to its taste and its low cost. Establishments selling pizza then multiplied in Naples. In particular, they are found sold in the street by itinerant merchants. Although extremely popular in this city, pizza remains ignored in the rest of Italy and in the world.
This dish for the poor acquired its first letters of nobility thanks to the visit of Queen Margherita to Naples in the 19th century. Tired of French cuisine, the king ask to a pizza maker to prepare a variety of pizza just for her. Pizza maker Raffaele Esposito from pizzeria Brandi then prepares a pizza in the colors of Italy with basil, mozzarella and tomatoes. Adored by the queen, the pizza is named "Margherita" in her honor.
The pizza in the world
While in Italy pizza remained confined to the city of Naples, it began to be exported internationally thanks to Neapolitan immigration in the 20th century.
Upon the Neapolitans' arrival in the United States, pizza quickly established itself as a gastronomic symbol. It then becomes Americanized with a large number of ingredients that enhance it, far superior to the original Neapolitan pizza. With the baby boom, couples both work and pizza responds perfectly to the demand of these working people who want to eat cheap, well and quickly at lunchtime. It also offers a wide variety of choices thanks to the different ingredients.
In Europe, it is also the immigration of Neapolitans that makes it possible to export pizza. In Marseille in particular, it very quickly becomes unavoidable. Neapolitan and Provencal food being very close, pizza fits very easily into the culture. The first Italian pizzas appear on the old port where the Neapolitans eat bianca pizzas.
In Short...
The history of pizza therefore goes back a long way and our pizza as we know it today took a long time to come out of its native Naples. Today, pizza, although still associated with Italy, has become an international specialty with an appropriation of each culture of the latter. The endless possibilities with the wide variety of toppings allow everyone to create their own pizza.
The history of pizza is long and is not about to end. It has crossed centuries and history, thanks to its great adaptability. Nowadays in Europe, the pizza is a popular and convivial dish that brings friends, families and many others together for a tasty moment.
And in Switzerland, Chez Mario is where pizza was born!
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