Who invented pizza?
We do not know exactly. Raffaele Esposito from Naples is one of the names often credited with the first pizza as we know it today: a flatbread with tomato sauce and cheese. But street vendors were already selling pizza-like flatbreads long before that.
In which country was pizza invented?
In Italy. Pizza as we know it today comes from the city of Naples in the 18th century. It was a fast, cheap and tasty meal for working people on the go, and it has since spread all over the world.
What does the word pizza mean?
Nobody knows for sure. One theory is that it comes from the Latin pinsa, meaning flatbread. Another links it to pitta, a word for bread that was used around the eastern Mediterranean.
The word pizza is first mentioned in a Latin text from the 10th century, from southern Italy. People were eating pizza-like foods long before that.
What was the first pizzeria?
The first pizzeria opened in Naples in 1738. It started as a stand; in 1830 it moved into a real restaurant.
Where does the margherita come from?
From a story from 1889. Queen Margherita of Savoy was visiting Naples, and Raffaele Esposito made her a pizza with tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil: the colours of the Italian flag. The pizza was named after her, and today we know it as the margherita.
When did pizza come to America?
In the early 20th century, with Italian immigrants who opened restaurants there. Pizza really took off after the Second World War, when soldiers who had been stationed in Italy came home with a taste for it.
Pizza delivery became big in the United States in the 1960s.
Which foods are like pizza?
Many countries have their own flatbread with toppings.
- Farinata
- A thin, salty pancake of chickpea flour with olive oil, rosemary and pepper, from Liguria and Tuscany.
- Pissaladière
- A French onion tart from Nice, with anchovies and olives.
- Flammkuchen
- A very thin, crunchy flatbread from Alsace and southern Germany, with crème fraîche, onion and bacon. In French: tarte flambée.
- Lahmacun
- Also called Turkish pizza: a thin flatbread with spicy minced meat, onion, tomato, peppers and parsley.
- Manakish
- A Middle Eastern flatbread baked with za’atar, a blend of thyme, oregano, sumac and sesame.
- Garlic fingers
- Pizza dough with garlic butter, cheese and parsley, cut into strips.
And within pizza itself there are plenty of styles, from the thin Italian base to the thick, generously topped American pan pizza.