The acceptance of
the tomato by the Neapolitans and the visit of a queen contributed to
the Pizza as we know and enjoy it today.
In about 1889, Queen
Margherita, accompanied by her husband, Umberto I, took an inspection
tour of her Italian Kingdom. During her travels around Italy she saw
many people, especially the peasants, eating this large, flat bread.
Curious, the queen ordered her guards to bring her one of these Pizza
breads. The Queen loved the bread and would eat it every time she was
out amongst the people, which caused some consternation in Court circles.
It was not seemly for a Queen to dine on peasant's food.
Never the less, the
queen loved the bread and decided to take matters into her own hands.
Summoning Chef Rafaelle Esposito from his pizzeria to the royal palace,
the queen ordered him to bake a selection of pizzas for her pleasure.
To honor the queen
who was so beloved by her subjects, Rafaelle decided to make a very
special pizza just for her. He baked a Pizza topped with tomatoes,
Mozarella Cheese, and fresh Basil (to represent the colors of the
Italian flag: Red, white, and green).
This became Queen
Margherita's favorite pizza and when word got out that this was one of
the queen's favorite foods, she became even more popular with the
Italian people. She also started a culinary tradition, the Pizza
Margherita, which lasts to this very day in Naples and has now spread
throughout the world.
History has not made
it clear whether Rafaelle began to sell this creation from his own
pizzeria but it is known that the Pizza, in much the same form as we now
know it, was thereafter enjoyed by all the Italian people. Variations
began to be made in different parts of the country. In Bologna, for
example, meat began to be added into the topping mix. Neapolitan Pizza
became quite popular and it brought garlic and crumbly Neapolitan
cheeses into the mixture as well as herbs, fresh vegetables, and other
spices and flavorings.
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About this time the
idea of baking in special brick ovens came into existence and the bread,
as it is today, was a rather simple combination of flour, oil, salt and
yeast.
Pizza spread to America, France, England and Spain, where it was little
known until after World War II. While occupying Italian territories,
many American and European soldiers tasted Pizza for the first time. It
was love at first taste! Italian immigrants had been selling Pizzas in
their American stores for some time, but it was the returning soldiers
with a lust for the saucy delight that drew the Pizzas out of the quiet
Italian neighborhoods into the main stream of city life all over the
continent. In fact, the square "Sicilian Pizza" which is so popular and
was the forerunner of the now well-promoted "Party Pizza" is an American
invention. Real Sicilian Pizza has no cheese or anchovies.
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Today we celebrate
Pizza. February 9 is International Pizza Day and the Guinness Book of
Records states that the largest Pizza ever made and eaten was created in
Havana, Florida and was 100 feet and 1 inch across!
American and
Canadian citizens will eat an average 23 pounds of Pizza, per person,
per year. Pepperoni and Cheese is the favorite combination, especially
with the younger set, and is second only to the hamburger as this
continent's favorite food.
Pizzas can be made
either healthy or fatty, depending upon what you use for the toppings.
They come in many forms such as Calzones (half the dough is topped then
the other half folded over to form a large half-moon shaped Pizza Pocket,
which is then baked). It also comes in various forms such as breads,
rolls, pan pizza, stuffed crust pizza, thin crust Pizza and thick crust
pizza, wholewheat crust, and bagel crust.
The concept has also
taken many forms such as Mexican Pizza (a pizza dough topped with chili
or taco filling, shredded Cheddar, chopped onions, tomatoes and Jalapeno
peppers), Ice Cream Pizza, Candy Pizza and even Pizza cake as well as
Pizza flavored items such as Potato Chips and Tortilla Snacks!
So, next time you
eat a Pizza, stop and think of Queen Margherita and Chef Rafaelle and be
grateful that a Queen would dare stoop to eat peasant bread.
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