Pizza is now sold all over the world. But where was pizza born? And, has it always been topped with tomato?
Pizza originally from Italy is arguably one of the most popular dishes in the world. You find it almost everywhere, available in many variations, adapted to local tastes and customs.
Salty or sweet, pizza from is a dish that, even today, continues to evolve and has little to do with the original version.
This Italian dish dates back to Late Antiquity. The word “pizza” appeared in 997. Its origin is controversial: for some, the term comes from the German bizoo which means “piece of bread”, and for others, from the Greek pitta which means ” pancake “.
This flat dough resembles, in fact, many breads that are still found today throughout the various countries of the Mediterranean basin.
Over time and depending on the region, this “bread” has been accompanied by ingredients. There is therefore no real city of origin of pizza, but it was in Italy that it developed in the Middle Ages.
Where was today’s Italian pizza born?
With the first counters and exchanges between countries, tomatoes and buffalo (whose milk is used to make mozzarella) arrive in Italy, more precisely in Naples.
The Neapolitans are the first to cover their bread with tomatoes. Initially, this simple dish was sold in the streets of Naples and the pizzerias where this bread, baked in a wood-fired oven, was made, like a buttered ham would be in a bakery.
The first pizza in modern Italy was born in 1780. The pizza Margherita (bread, tomatoes, cheese), made by Raffaele Esposito in honor of Queen Margherite who greatly appreciated her pizzas.
This dish hitherto eaten in the street then acquired its letters of nobility, and has since continued to diversify.