Who Invented Pizza?
In This Article:
The modern pizza has its roots in the flatbreads with toppings that were consumed by the ancient Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks.
The Romans ate a version with herbs and oil, similar to today’s focaccia.
So, the modern pizza has its roots in the Campania region of Italy, home to the city of Naples, where the first pizzerias were opened.
The original pizza was created in the 1700s by a baker named Raffaele Esposito.
Esposito, who lived in the town of Forcella, created a special pizza with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, oil, and basil to offer to Queen Margherita on her visit to Naples.
From The Past To Nowadays
In 1889 the Italian King Umberto I and Queen Margherita visited Naples.
As one of the sayings goes the traveling pair became bored with their steady diet of French haute cuisine and asked for an assortment of pizzas from the city’s Pizzeria Brandi, the successor to Da Pietro pizzeria.
Realizing that the future monarchs of Italy enjoyed pizza, the owner, Raffaele Esposito, decided to make a special pie to honor them.
He added tomatoes to a classic white pizza, which he named Pizza Margherita, in honor of Queen Margherita.
Called the ‘Pizza Margherita’, it is still offered in most pizzerias today. Esposito’s bakery is now known as Pizzeria Brandi.
Pizza in The Modern Sense
Pizza in the modern sense evolved in the city of Naples, where a growing population needed inexpensive, quick food that could be consumed on the go.
The pizzaioli, or pizza makers, who emerged to meet this need, sold their flatbreads with various toppings not only in pizzerias but also by street vendors and in informal restaurants.
In the 18th century, pizza-eating became a way of life in Naples.
The city’s poor and working classes, who had little time for cooking, required inexpensive food that could be consumed quickly.
Pizza-flatbreads with various toppings, eaten for any meal and sold by street vendors or informal restaurants-met this need.
The First Pizzeria In The United States
An ocean away, though, immigrants to the United States from Naples were replicating their trusty, crusty pizzas in New York and other American cities, including Trenton, New Haven, Boston, Chicago, and St. Louis.
The Neapolitans were coming for factory jobs, as did millions of Europeans and people wanted new things to eat.
So, such “pizza expansion” led to the creation of the first documented pizzeria in the United States.
It was created by G. Lombardi’s on Spring Street in Manhattan, which was licensed to sell pizza in 1905.
Prior to that, pizza was homemade or purveyed by unlicensed vendors.
Pizza has been around for centuries, but it wasn’t until the late 19th century that the version we know today came about.
As another saying goes, a baker’s assistant in Naples, Italy, have created pizza in 1889 when he baked bread dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and basil.
The dish later evolved into its current form in Chicago around the turn of the 20th century.
Although American soldiers are said to have developed their own version of pizza while stationed in Italy during World War II.
However, today’s American pizza has an entirely different taste from its Italian ancestors.
