Food of Italy : PIZZA

Pizza

History

Pizza is a baked pie of Italian origin consisting of a shallow bread-like crust covered with seasoned tomato sauce, cheese, and often other toppings such as sausage or olive. The word pizza is believed to be from an Old Italian word meaning "a point," which in turn became the Italian word "pizzicare," which means, "to pinch" or "pluck." The Phoenicians, the Greeks, Romans, or anyone who learned the secret of mixing flour with water and heating it on a hot stone could have invented the pizza. In one of its many forms, pizza has been a basic part of the Italian diet since the Stone Age. This earliest form of pizza was crude bread that was baked beneath the stones of the fire. After cooking, it was seasoned with a variety of different toppings and used instead of plates and utensils to sop up broth or gravies. It is said that the idea of using bread as a plate came from the Greeks who ate flat round bread (plankuntos) baked with an assortment of toppings. The workingman and his family ate it because it was a thrifty and convenient food. To add on there are many restaurants in Italy named ‘Pizzeria’ in many different parts in Italy.

America VS Italy

There exists many differences in pizza’s made in Italy and that made in U.S. An American pizza have a thick crust, you can possibly also find oil or other fat inside. A true Italian pizza has a thin crust made with flour, yeast and water.The topping on an Italian pizza is very light compared to an American one: the most popular in Italy is "Pizza Margherita", which just have meshed tomatoes, mozzarella and basil; a spoon of extra virgin olive oil after cooking. Obviously other recipes include different or more toppings (mushrooms, olives, etc) but no way close to a the most typical "pepperoni pizza" eaten in the US, up to 1000 calories, greasy and fat, impossible to find in Italy (the closer is called "Pizza Alla Diavola", because of the spicy salami). Note that "peperoni" in Italian actually means "bell pepper"; it's not a kind of salami. "Chicken pizza", another popular one in America, is unknown in Italy.

Every Italian Pizza is made in ovens