

Up Next: The History of Pizza In America.The origins of pizza in its earliest incarnation is dubious. While we all know and love these slices of today, pizza actually didn’t gain mass appeal until the 1940s, when immigrating Italians brought their classic slices to the United States. Where did pizza originally come from? Pizza was first invented in Naples, Italy as a fast, affordable, tasty meal for working-class Neapolitans on the go. The Ancient Greek word “pikte”, meaning “fermented pastry” became the Latin word “picta” which fell into Italian hands. The word pizza is likely to be linked with “pitta” from Greece – the round flatbread which can sometimes contain toppings.

Is there a National Pizza Day? There is indeed! Celebrate your favorite greasy food on National Pizza Day every February 9! What does pizza mean in French?ĭe pizza. Is there a national pizza day around the world? Pica morphed into ‘pie’ in Old French, following the proud French tradition of actually pronouncing as few consonants as possible. ‘Pie’ was the word for a magpie before it was a word for a pastry, from the Latin word for the bird, Pica (whence the name of the disorder that makes you eat weird things). Pineapple lends itself well to baking and grilling, though most of these combinations do not involve cheese. This prickly, distinctive fruit offers a strong flavor that tends to dominate when used in recipes. This rich sauce must be prepared with peeled Italian tomatoes, preferably with San Marzano peeled tomatoes, and then blanched with salt, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil to get an original taste. What is an authentic Italian pizza?Īuthentic Italian pizzas are based with nonna’s special fresh tomato sauce (which doesn’t get cooked at all!). Therefore, if you grab a hot slice you’re begging for a burn. Waiting for your dinner to cool down is just not an option – protocol says it should be enjoyed straight away. Pizza is to be enjoyed straight from the oven and piping hot. Italians eat pizza with a fork and knife. – Literally ‘pie’ in Italian, making ‘pizza pie’ redundant. There is more on the Italian origins later down the article. Pizza is used only to describe pizza in Italy and no other pie like dish. The word pizza as we now know it is recorded in English in the early 1800s, though early English lexicographer John Florio enters pizza for “a small cake or wafer” in his historically important 1598 Italian-English dictionary. The original word is Pitta, derived from ancient Greek pitta or pissa meaning a baked dough “spread” dish. Pizza is actually a Greek word, meaning “spread’ (dough) and it is borrowed into Italian from South Italian Greek. The word ‘pizza’ first appeared in a Latin text from the town of Gaeta, then still part of the Byzantine Empire, in 997 AD the text states that a tenant of certain property is to give the bishop of Gaeta duodecim pizze (‘twelve pizzas’) every Christmas Day, and another twelve every Easter Sunday. It may have come from the Latin pix meaning “pitch” or Greek pitta, but others say that it originated in a Langobardic word bizzo meaning “bite.”. The word pizza is Italian for pie, but how that word wound up in Italian boggles etymologists. Other etymologists suggest it is related to the Lombardic word bizzo or pizzo, which means mouthful, and is related to the English word bite. Pizza was mainly eaten in Italy and by emigrants from there.īased on etymology, the “Vocabolario Etimologico della Lingua Italiana” reveals that pizza comes from the dialectal pinza from the Latin pinsere, which means to pound or stamp. 997 in Gaeta and successively in different parts of Central and Southern Italy. The word pizza was first documented in A.D. Modern pizza evolved from similar flatbread dishes in Naples, Italy, in the 18th or early 19th century.
