Unit5 The History of Pizza

Pizza is a modern favorite all over the world. But how did this meal get its start? Who made it first?

1  The idea for pizza is older than Italy. The Greeks first came up with the idea of baking bread in round, flat shapes and adding things on top. Potatoes and leaves were typical toppings, along with certain kinds of meat and even fruit. It’s almost certain that Greeks would have used the tomato, except that it was not discovered at the time!

2  Pizza was first created by the baker Raffeale Esposito in Naples, Italy. According to legend, Esposito wanted to create a kind of bread different from all other kinds sold in Naples. He first added only cheese to bread, then some sauce under it and let the dough take the shape of a large round pie. His creation was immediately a favorite. He made a pizza of three colors — white cheese, red sauce and green spices, to mirror the Italian flag and show his loyalty to his country.    It was a hit, and he named his creation the Margherita pizza after the queen.

3  In the 1830s, Pizza spread into other Italian cities, while at the same time Neopolitan pizza became a focus of public attention. The process of cooking a pizza in a brick oven began at this time. While there were other sorts of pizza, the Neopolitan pizza became the mark of Italian food creation.

4  Pizza spread to America, England, France and Spain very rapidly after its Italian birth. It was little-known in these countries, however, until World War II. After occupying Italy, many American and European soldiers tasted pizza and brought the memory to their homeland. In America, Italian immigrants had been selling pizza in their stores, and the first pizza hut had been opened in 1905. The Americans popularized this feature of most Italian neighborhoods, drawing pizza huts out of Italian neighborhoods and into the hearts of every city in America.

5  The best part of these facts is that pizza is actually ahealthy food! It contains vitamin A in tomato sauce, protein and calcium in cheese, and carbohydrates in dough and oil. Put more simply, pizza can be made with anything from the most healthy ingredients to the most fattening.    It is a meal with many forms, for almost every kind of eaters. It is sold in pockets, breads, rolls, and as various snack foods. Several areas of the United States even make pizza of completely different ingredients, like ice cream pizza and pizza cake. It has come a long way since its origin in Italy, and can now be called a “world treat” .