Let Them Eat Pizza

When most people think of pizza they think of Italy. However, did you know that pizza as we know it actually did not originate there? This food has its roots in ancient Greece where it was consumed as a much simpler variation of what we now call pizza.

The ancient Greeks who had their version of this dish on flat bread with oil and spices probably never envisioned that hundreds of years later their simple grab and go food would not only still be in existence but would become a meal in itself with endless varieties they would never have thought of.

But it was actually Queen Marguerite who in 1899 tried a poor man's version of this dish while visiting in Naples that brought this dish back to life. The version the Queen had in the streets of Naples had not changed a great deal since its origins in Greece hundreds of years earlier. The Queen was so taken with this simple flat bread meal she brought it back to the palace and her personal chef tinkered with it to create a version with the Italian flag on it and hence the tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese were added and the modern version began to take root.

Queen Marie Antoinette's may have said, "Let them eat cake" when she discovered the peasants were too poor for bread, but it was Queen Marguerite who should get credit for "Let them eat pizza." We can thank Queen Marguerite who brought this dish back to her own country and kept it from disappearing into obscurity.

Today there are so many different variations of this dish it's hard to believe that someone could not find at least one kind that they like. Variations start from the crust--it can be thin or thick or even have some cheese stuffing--and continue on from there. For the health conscious consumer the crust can be made gluten-free which means instead of using wheat-based flour for the crust, the crust can be made with a gluten-free variation of flour so that even people who have gluten intolerance are able to enjoy this classic dish.

There are wide varieties of toppings that go beyond just the classic pepperoni to include adding almost everything that you can think of including chicken, artichokes or fruit such as pineapple.

The key to a healthy meal though is in the toppings. When you put healthy toppings on your dish you are going to be consuming almost all of the food groups in the food pyramid including bread, meat, dairy, and vegetables and even in some cases fruit.

And since it is not deep-fried but baked it is prepared in a healthy manner for consumption making it grease free and low-calorie meal.

Regardless of how you like it there is enough variation in this dish to make it popular with just about anyone.