Part I - Pizza and Pizzerias in America

We may consider pizza a new fast-food phenomenon, but pizza is actually 3000 years old! Ancient civilizations from the Greeks to the Romans have been baking flat buns and dough, flavored with herbs and topped with tasty morsels. In Egypt the Pharaoh’s birthday was celebrated with a flat bun seasoned with herbs. These breads were baked on hot stones from the fire. Although Naples lays claim to being the home of the modern pizza, it has been a favourite food in the Mediterranean for many centuries.

When the Longobards invaded southern Italy, they brought with them the art of making cheese from their buffalo herds, and the Modern Age brought another necessary ingredient – tomatoes. At this time ‘pizzaioli’ was considered peasant food in Naples.

During the 18th century, pizzas began to be cooked in the oven and sold on the streets of Naples. They even had delivery, as a boy with a tin oven, called a ‘stufa’, balanced on his head would transport the ready-made hot pizzas to his customers around the streets. The pizzeria was born in the early 19th century, when customers stopped at the local pizza oven house and ate the pizzas on site.

Raffaele Esposito created a pizza to honor a visit by King Umberto I and Queen Margherita. He used green basil, red tomatoes and white mozzarella to create a pizza which resembled the Italian flag and the Margherita pizza was born. Royalty certainly enjoyed pizza and the ancient Pizzeria Brandi has a document signed “Sincerely, Galli Camillo, head of the table of the Royal Household” dated June 1889. Today pizza is enjoyed from royalty down in countries throughout the world.