The History Of Pizza

Roman soldiers tasted matzo and thought it lacked FOCUS (the Latin word for hearth). On a hearth, along with oil, herbs and cheese ... pizza was born ...

The root word in Latin is PICEA, which describes the blackening of the crust caused by the fire underneath. Pizza bears the mark of many ancient cultures centered around the Mediterranean sea. Greece, Rome, and Egypt all ate early forms of flat bread that eventually turned into pizza. Italy was the first to master the pizza. Poor housewives had only flour, olive oil, lard, cheese and herbs with which to feed their families and so combined them in a delicious manner. Being a peasant’s meal, street vendors (typically young boys) walked around the city with small tin stoves on their heads, calling out to attract customers.

In 1889, piazziolo (pizza chef) Raffaele Esposito of Napoli, created a pizza especially for the visit of Italian King Umberto and Queen Margherita. The pizza, named Pizza Margherita after the queen, was very patriotic and resembled the Italian flag with its colors of red (tomatoes), white (mozzarella cheese), and green (basil). It set the standard by which today's pizza evolved. For centuries in Italy, there has been a time-honored way of cooking.