Practical work

No.

History of pizza

M. Celeste Rocha Louzán.

Subject: Baking
History of pizza

According to historical records, from the towns of antiquity such as the

Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, and Persians used to prepare flatbreads very similar.
to the pizza bread. Made with cereals, they also added various ingredients,
for example, the plakous, bread to which aromatic plants, garlic, and
onion.

It is also said that the Persian soldiers during the time of the third king of the dynasty
Persian Achaemenid, Darius I the Great, subsisted on flatbread.
this melted cheese and, to finish, added dates. Or that other troops, in
In this case, the Romans consumed ancient focaccias of Etruscan origin.
In fact, in the ruins of Pompeii, the city of Ancient Rome that was left
destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius, a round loaf of bread was found cut in
eight portions that are very similar to the current pizza. And Marcus Gavius Apicius,
author of the only surviving Roman cookbook, De re coquinaria,
described the preparation of "seasoned flatbreads" with ingredients such as the
parsley, oregano or olive oil.

According to the New Etymological Dictionary of the Italian Language, by Manlio

Cortelazzo and Paolo Zolli, the word "pizza" was already used in the year 997.
from the Old German bizzopizzo which meant bite and piece of
In the 12th century, pizzo becomes pizza and indicates "a small round bread".
and tender

Considering that the tomato arrived in European lands in the 16th century and until
At the end of the XVII century, the population did not accept it as food, the birth of the
most basic pizza, essentially made of dough, cheese, and sauce
tomato could never have taken place before the 17th century.

So, the strictest base of the dish, the baked dough itself, the tomato and the
cheese did not emerge until the 18th/19th centuries in the poorest outskirts of
Naples. Certainly, the genesis of pizza is located in Naples, when it was not
Italy, rather Spain, or rather, the Kingdom of Aragon, and therefore, it is likely that
outside the first region of that peninsula that tried the tomato, which in Spain
it was consumed since the 16th century. It would be at that time when it is believed that
all these ingredients came together to ultimately give rise to pizza.
The humble populations of these areas overcame the fear that was held towards the
red fruit, which would have arrived in Italy on Spanish ships considered
poisonous, and they added it to those flat breads they were preparing.

In the first half of that same century, Alexandre Dumas, the father, would describe
in one of his works the diversity of ingredients with which at that time
began to prepare the pizza for the popular classes: "In Naples, we
"was made with olive oil, bacon, cheese, tomato, and salted anchovies." It was
the food that the poorest and most needy practically ate all the time
hours. As breakfast, as lunch, and as dinner.

The first pizzeria in the world was founded in 1830, the Antica Pizzeria Port'alba,
that still exists, and there they made what is called Pizza Marinara, which is not a
pizza with seafood, as one might think by the name, but it was the
what the sailors ate when they returned to shore.

Over time, pizza would begin to spread across Italy and transcend to
the humblest people. The Neapolitans brought it with them through their migration.
to other parts of the planet. And the aristocratic class, with the gradual adoption of
Plato popularized it. Thus, shortly before the outbreak of World War II
Worldwide, pizza would go from being considered a regional preparation of
environment of Naples, a national dish of the whole of Italy.

The dish that had once served as sustenance for the humblest classes
it became a global preparation with a thousand and one interpretations.

According to the statutes of the 'Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana', the pizza is
it is composed only of dough and pizzaiola, the rest are superfluous embellishments and that

they distort the true flavor of the invention. The dough is made by hand, with flour
of select wheat and virgin olive oil from Campania, it is baked with wood from
oak or chestnut, and the pizzaiola is prepared with tomatoes from the gardens of Vesuvius
and Buffalo Campana Mozzarella cheese.

Of the authentically Neapolitan pizzas, the only ones recognized by the

True Neapolitan Pizza Association, like the marinara and the margherita; this
last attributed to the supposed first pizzeria, Port'Alba, existing in the
current events, and the election of a queen, Margherita Teresa of Savoy, wife
from King Umberto I, due to its similarity to the country's flag. Let's move on to pizzas.

also Italian like the Roman one, made with a thinner and crunchier dough
about which only olive oil, salt, and rosemary are placed. Or the wide variety
of elaborations that can be found in the rest of Europe, States
United, Latin America, Asia, Oceania, and practically anywhere.

Orthodox varieties

Pizza Margherita: on June 1, 1889, the kings of

Italy, Humberto I of Savoy and his wife, Doña Margarita, visiting the city of
Naples, in a gesture of reaching out to the people, ordered a pizza, which was a
a kind of sandwich for sailors and laborers, sold at stalls
street vendors, and the fortunate pizzaiolo, a certain Raffaele Esposito, who
I worked at the bakery 'Pietro... and that's enough', playing with the red of the tomato,
the white of the mozzarella cheese and the green of the fresh basil, prepared a with
the flag of the new Italy (Italy was born from the hands of the father of this king, Vittorio
Emanuele II, because before they were dispersed kingdoms, never a country or nation), and the

he baptized it with the name of the queen, Pizza Margherita (in Italian, Margherita).
So, the idea is to form the Italian flag (green, white, and red), using
the tomato sauce, the cheese, always Mozzarella di bufala, and the whole leaves
of basil, which should be added once the pizza is cooked.

Marinara pizza: in its origin it was very simple, just pizzaiola and fried garlic with
its oil, that is, authentic Neapolitan pizza, the one the sailors used to eat when
they wrote on land, hence their name, and not because they carried shellfish.

Neapolitan pizza: it should have fried garlic, but today, for commercial reasons,
only anchovies are added, in addition to the cheese and tomato sauce, of course. In
reality should be a 'marinara' to which, on their own, the diner would add
some anchovies, but once finished, that is, out of the oven, because if they are roasted
(as usual), they only taste of brine.

Roman-style pizza, by the slice, or rustic: It's not about a combination of

ingredients, if not a way to market it, that is, by portions (al taglio)
It means at the cut), which implies that the pasta was reduced to preserve its
crunchy point, to the point that we already talk about thin crust pizzas and
fat, although in reality, the orthodoxy dictates that this dough should be like that of the

bread, enriched with olive oil. It is called 'a la romana' because it was there where
it began to be sold according to New York custom, which consists of having them
yeah grills, and cut the Margherita Pizza into slices to eat on the street or
take home. That is to say, they can be a thousand variations, any of the others
described.

Pugliese pizza: It is supposed to be typical of the Apulia region and only contains
pecorino cheese, plenty of onion, olive oil, and oregano.

Calabrese pizza: In addition to containing tuna and capers, something typical of Sicily,
the difference is that this one had pork bacon instead of olive oil.

Pizza with clams: Vongola means clam, but generally they are placed
mussels, which add more flavor. In this one, the Neapolitan sauté is usually added,
I mean, garlic

Sicilian pizza: It may be old because 'Spanish Italy' was composed of

of the Kingdom of Naples and the Two Sicilies, so that Spanish influence was
also evident on this island. Based on the original pizzaiola, additional elements are added.

the typical products of Sicily, three-colored peppers (previously

sautéed in olive oil with plenty of garlic), salami, and capers.

Bibliography
Toni Castillo, 2017. The pizza, origin and history.The provided text is a URL and does not contain translatable content.
street-journal/the-pizza-origin-and-history

Unable to access external content.2014

Pepe Churches, 2009. History of the pizza

Unable to access the provided URL.
italian/history-of-pizza.html