‘Fluffy triangular bits,
That no one wants in splits,
A sin that every diet-freak would love to commit!’
- Prithviraj Shirole
The poem got us there. Didn’t it?
For me, it all started with the scene in the movie ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ where Julia Roberts is eating pizza. I have been crazy about pizza for a while now, and I am always craving to have a slice or two. The places my friends take me to are the best pizza places, and everything I see on Instagram is about pizza. So, since the universe is giving me signs of pizza, here I am, embracing my newfound fondness for it.
Now, let’s dig into some history.
Disclaimer: There are going to be a lot of Italian words. Feel free to confidently pronounce them incorrectly unless you know Italian.
Pizza’s modern birthplace is Italy, more accurately southwestern Italy’s Campania region, home to the city of Naples. But back then, ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians consumed flatbreads topped with onion and garlic with various oil and herbs. The Greeks called it ‘plakous-plakountos’. In fact, even as far back as the sixth century BCE, Persians were baking flatbreads covered in cheese and dates. So the groundwork for pizza was laid back then, long before Italy.
Naples, Italy, was a thriving Greek settlement and waterfront city in the 1700s and early 1800s. Even though Naples was an independent kingdom, the people who lived there were often poor and relied on begging or jobs such as porters, messengers, or casual labourers. They were commonly referred to as lazzaroni.
These Neapolitans (natives or inhabitants of Naples) required cheap, inexpensive food that could be consumed quickly and easily. Pizza – flatbreads with various toppings – eaten for any meal and sold by street vendors or informal restaurants, certainly met this need.
First-ever pizza delivery
In 1889, King Umberto I and Queen Margherita visited Naples. While there, they got tired of the French dishes they were served for all three meals. So they immediately summoned some local specialities for the queen. Raffaele Esposito, the pizzaiolo (a chef who specialises in making pizzas and has been trained to make authentic, Italian-style pizzas), cooked three kinds of pizzas for the queen.
- One with lard, caciocavallo, and basil
- One with cecenielli
- One with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil.
The queen was pleased, and her favourite was the third. Raffaele called it Pizza Margherita to honour the queen; the rest is history.
In fact, the meal to the queen is credited as the first pizza delivery.
The US is the second home of pizza
Did you know pizza became popular in the United States before its native Italy?
Naples immigrants brought pizzas to cities like New York, Chicago, Boston, Trenton, New Haven, and St. Louis while seeking factory jobs. The flavours and aromas of pizza quickly intrigued non-Italians. And now Pizza Hut and Domino’s, the biggest pizza hubs from America, rule the pizza world.
Pizzas were once looked down on by food writers. They were often considered ‘disgusting’ and associated with the poverty of the lazzaroni.
Who were they kidding? Now, pizza is the world’s most popular fast food.
Yet, how did pizza get its name? There are many stories, but it’s still a mystery.
I would go as far as to say that pizza is one Italian bliss that has been bestowed upon the world.
My personal favourite is Carbonara with bacon and basil on a thin crust surface sprinkled with olive oil, with an egg in the middle. I fell in love when I took the first bite at La Luna Pizzeria and Cafe in Colombo.
Craving pizza now, aren’t you?