The History of the Pizza

Let’s face it—pizza in its essence is pretty basic. There’s some bread, a sauce base, cheese, and then various toppings. It can vary greatly, but much like the sandwich, it is a simple food, which is why its history can be traced back quite early. Ancient Greeks began experimenting with pies by slathering bread called plakous with oils and cheese. Flatbreads with toppings gained great popularity throughout the Mediterranean, and one of the original variations called focaccia is still available today. 

It wasn’t until the 1800’s that pizza began to resemble what gets delivered to millions of homes every day. Tomatoes, now a major staple in Italian cuisine, were not introduced into everyday cooking until the 18th century. One reason for this might be due to superstitions over the fruit. It resembles a group of poisonous plants called nightshade, which may be why it took so long for it to be accepted and integrated into European recipes. Italians used tomatoes to create the first sauce based pie in Naples. Shortly thereafter, pizzerias started to pop up around the island of Sicily and word spread quickly about the new, convenient cuisine. 

In the early 1900’s, Italian immigrants brought pizza to the United States and started to experiment with the recipe. It quickly became an inexpensive street food sold by the slice. Toppings were added to suit different tastes, generally meats and vegetables were used but with little variation in sauces and cheese. As the cuisine spread to other states, local populations would adapt recipes to make their own specialties. New York is known for thinner crust large slices that can be folded over. Chicago is famous for deep dish crusts that are doughier and cheesier than their thinner counterparts. States on the west coast, such as California, have added regional ingredients such as avocado to bring a unique flavor. 

While pizza has undergone several transformations, and barbecue chicken or Hawaiian varieties are as common today as traditional pepperoni, purists believe that there are only two types of pie that count for anything: the marinara and the margherita. The marinara is the most basic, with no cheese, but rather just herbs, oil, and sauce. The mergherita adds gooey mozzarella cheese and basil. Crusts on traditional pies tend to be thinner and crispy as compared with deep-dish varieties that are now popular in the United States. Both of these varieties are still widely available at most pizzerias and Italian restaurants. 

The pizza is such an international icon that in 2009, the European Union granted Italy a Traditional Specialty Guaranteed or TSG to the Neapolitan, which certifies protection against products made from other regions to claim authenticity. While there is still much debate over what is authentic, what it matters, and how the pie truly originated, there is no doubt that it is still one of the world’s most popular dishes and is continually evolving over time. And you definitely don’t have to fly to Italy in order to get a good slice.