HISTORY OF PIZZA
One of the most popular dishes in the world today is without a doubt a pizza. Its long history spans centuries and millennia's, unifying the countries of Europe and later on continents and entire world. As we look further back to the past we can see the origins of the pizza in the 1st century BC as a sort of flattened bread that was used by several European civilizations. The first major breakthrough in the history of pizza happened in 16th century with the arrival of tomatoes from the New World. Often thought as a poor man's vegetable, sauces made from potato soon became integral part of the Italian pizza and which later spread across the entire world.
The earliest known home of ancient pizza comes from the island of Sicily, where archeologist found remains of the 3000 years old flattened breads and tool for their manufacture. The similar kind of dishes papered in the surrounding European areas in the following centuries. One of the earliest mentioning's of pizza came from the historical writings of the Darius, the Great conquest of Europe. It mentions the habit of his soldiers to bake flattened bread on their shields, which were later covered with cheese and dates.
Roman Empire and especially the area around the Naples and Pompeii were famous for their use of pizzas as everyday meals. There are several historical writings from those times that mention their skill in making flattened breads that were afterward seasoned with various toppings. The most famous mention of pizza from that period was one in poet Virgil poem The Aeneid". The volcano disaster that stoke Roman city of Pompeii left immeasurable amount of important archeological artifact for the modern historians. Among the ruins of the preserved city, archeologist found many signs that proved the common existence of pizzas in Roman Empire - street stands where pizza was sold, bakeries where they were made and even equipment that baker used. The other parts of Europe continued to make variations of flattened bread dishes, with many of them surviving even to today (coca from Catalonia and Valencia, Greek Pita, Turkish Pide, Lepinja or Solmun in Balkans).
The arrival of tomatoes from the new world represented one ingredient for the incredible rise of the pizza popularity. The center of pizza innovation was centered in city of Naples, where local cooks first started implementing now famous tomato topping. By late 18th century pizza reached great popularity on the streets of Naples. It was sold in the poorer sections of the city, which became popular tourist destination of many Italian and European sailors that visited that city. As the pizza became more popular, the vendors that sold them became more organized. The first modern pizzeria Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba was opened in 1830, and soon after that many more followed it.
The moment witch solidified popularity of Pizza in Italy happened in 1889, when famous Naples pizza chef Raffaele Esposito made three pizzas for Umberto I King of Italy and his wife Queen Margherita di Savoia. His successful pizza presentation made his designs part of an Italian food culture, and consummation of pizza continued to spread across Italy.
America became acquainted with pizzas in late 19th century, when many Italians colonized several US cities. Concentrated Italian presence in Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia became one of the first areas where pizza was sold in United States. At first, street vendors sold pizzas in Italian districts, but soon after street peddlers who walked up and down the Chicago's Taylor Street and sold hot slices of pizza to surrounding traffic. As the popularity of pizza grew, the need for dedicated restraint that served only pizza brought the foundation of first pizzeria in USA. Created byGennaro Lombardi in Little Italy, Manhattan, this pizzeria was active all up to 1984, until it was reopened 10 years later by Lombardi's grandson.
Although popularity of pizza grew in the USA, it was mostly limited to the Italian immigrants and their descendants. The moment that brought true international fame of the pizza happened after end of the World War II, when soldiers returning from the European fronts brought with themselves an appetite for this incredible dish. Another big promotion for pizza happened during 1950s when many American celebrities of Italian origin started promoting pizza, most notably Jerry Colonna, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Durante, and baseball star Joe DiMaggio. As the new pizza parlors became formed across the entire America, the beginnings of the modern pizza industry started being born. Some of the most famous worldwide pizza franchises founded in that period were Pizza Hut in Wichita, Kansas (1958) Domino's (1967) and Papa John's(1984).
Today, American pizza business has shifted from the selling meals at the location of restraint to the companies that specialize in pizza delivery. Many of the old giants have also accepted the transition to this kind of business. Popularity of pizza continues to grow even today, and many public events and festivals are held in the honor of this incredible dish (such as World Pizza Championship where best cooks from entire world fight for the title of best pizza maker).
BENEFITS OF PIZZA
POSITIVE EFFECTS - Tomato Sauce represent one of the basic and most used components of pizza toping. In its structure tomato contains Lycopene (tomatoes processed into sauce have more lycopene in it than unprocessed ones) which is known to be powerful antioxidant which helps in fight against many different types of cancer. Studies have shown that people who eat pizza at least once a week have a smaller chance to get ill for several forms of cancer (mouth, stomach, lung, prostate and more). Some of the other ingredients have positive effect on our metabolism - olive oil reduces bad cholesterol and increase good one and prevent heart diseases, Mozzarella cheese is rich with fats, protein, calcium and sodium,garlic is rich with selenium, manganese, vitamin C and other beneficial compounds, oregano is a good source of vitamin K, manganese, fiber and oils.
People who are on diet can found that vegetable pizza or one made from olives, olive oil and fish represent one of the best dietary meals on earth. They can be made in such way to have great taste and still have low amounts of fat and cholesterol that are normally associated with meals with meat and cheese. Cheese toppings on pizzas are also excellent source of calcium, which reduced the possibility of colon cancer. However, for healthier diet we recommend reducing the amount of cheese (it after all has high amount of fat), and instead using more tomato sauce. The good combination of crust, cheese, toppings can be used for creation of healthy pizza that will surely be good for everyone organism. Although many try to put pizza in the "fast food" group, pizza created in the proper way, with the quality ingredientscan definitely be classified as a "health food". The recipe for such pizza consist of using whole wheat crust, extra virgin olive oil, a limited amount of cheese, no extra salt, and top it with lean meat, anchovies, vegetable, and/ or fruit toppings.
NEGATIVE HEALTH ISSUES can come if pizza is made with no regard for its end quality (poor quality ingredients, bad recipes, etc). Frozen pizzas and ones created in large pizza chains have in the past been criticized for their amounts high salt, fat and calories. One of the largest pizza chains on earth Pizza Hut in one period of time sold food that contained more than twice the daily recommended amount of salt for an adult.
TYPES OF PIZZA
Here are some of the most important types of pizza that can be found around of world:
Italian Neapolitan pizza (pizza napoletana) - This authentic Neapolitan pizza is protected by the European law as a cultural food heritage, and its production is closely monitored. Ingredients for its creation are San Marzano tomatoes, Mozzarella cheese (sometimes made from the milk from water buffalo raised in the marshlands of Campania and Lazio in a semi-wild state), natural Neapolitan yeast or brewer's yeast and strong flour with high protein content.
Italian Lazio style - This style originated from Rome and is popular across the entire Italy. It is created either in rectangular baking pan with thin crust, or in regular oval form. There are several variations of this pizza, with most notable ones being Pizza Romana (tomato, mozzarella, anchovies, oregano, oil), Pizza Viennese (German sausage), Pizza capricciosa, Pizza quattrostagioni ("four seasons pizza), Pizza quattroformaggi("four cheese pizza"), Sicilian-style pizza (its topping is baked directly into the crust), White pizza (which doesn't not use tomato sauce), Ripieno or calzone (which is "turnaround pizza, folded into form of half circle) and Pizza Leggera or Pizza Mezzogiorno (very small pizza, with crust of only half a centimeter at most).
American pizza - Over the last century in which pizza was present in the US, several distinctive pizza styles were developed. Some of the most notable ones are deep-dish pizza in Chicago, twice-baked style in Detroit and thin crust pizza in New York.
Australian pizza - This kind of pizza is heavily filled with cheese and eggs, as well as many other sea products. In 1980s several Australian pizza shops started selling pizzas that were made with very exotic and expensive ingredients (salmon, bocconcini, tiger prawns, kangaroo, emu and crocodile).
Brazilian pizza - After the pizza revolution in 1950s, this dish became very popular in Brazil. Today it's calculated that population of Sao Paolo eat 1.4 million pizzas every day. Aside from very popular traditional types (Neapolitan pizza and Roman pizzas), Brazilian pizzerias also offer many forms of this dish.
Indian pizza - India became acquitted with pizza with the arrival of the big pizza franchise restaurants (such as Domino's and Pizza Hut) during 1990s. Today Indian population eat all the most common pizza variations (mostly Italian ones), but they created several toppings that are unique to their country (Tandoori Chicken and Paneer).
Pizza in Korea - In addition to the major American pizza brands, population of South Korea is also eating pizzas from the domestic brands such as Mr. Pizza and Pizza Etang, which offer traditional and regional toppings that cannot be found elsewhere and pizzas that are very complicated for creation. North Korea received his first pizzeria in its capitol Pyongyang in 2009.
Pizzas in Israel - Types of pizza in Israel are heavily influenced by many cultures that live in that area. In addition to worldwide pizza chains, Israel pizzas are also available in kosher (no meat or with meat imitations).
Frozen pizzas - The first frozen pizzas appeared in US market by Celentano Brothers. In the following decades food technologists managed to overcome challenges with cold pizza storages. Today they are available in forms of frozen crust, or as ready-to-bake pizzas which have pre-prepared raw ingredients.
Exotic pizzas - Some of the examples of the most notable exotic pizzas are Deep-Fried Pizza from Scotland (often served with French fries for maximum calories impact), Chocolate Pizza (with toppings such as marshmallows, peanut butter, and candy) and Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza (Domino's version of this pizza can have 900 calories in regular 2 slice serving!).HOW TO MAKE PIZZA?
Pizza Dough
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/220183/easy-homemade-pizza-dough/?internalSource=hn_carousel%2001_Easy%20Homemade%20Pizza%20Dough&referringId=1035&referringContentType=recipe%20hub&referringPosition=carousel%2001
This is the link to make Pizza Dough, or you can just buy the instant pizza dough in super market.
Source:
http://www.pizzafacts.net/pizza-history/history-of-pizza/
http://www.pizzafacts.net/pizza-facts/pizza-and-health/
http://www.pizzafacts.net/pizza-facts/pizza-types/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/518054763365895186/
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