Pizza, the Journey From Naples To Fast Food

Pizza—the quintessential junk-food.  Since the ‘80s, it’s been the stereotypically greasy, processed meat-laden go-to meal of teenagers in sitcoms, latch-key kids, beer-drinking sports fanatics, and women in their 30s trying to ruin their diets.  But where does pizza really come from?  Most of us are vaguely aware that it’s Italian, but it actually has a long history dating back to the Ancient Greeks, who used to cook bread covered in oil, herbs, and cheese.  (This they called a pita, meaning a pie, a name which has gone in a completely different direction since then.)  Pizza as we know it today—a flat dough covered in tomato sauce, cheese, oregano, and various different meats and vegetables—actually originated in the city of Naples as a customary flatbread.

The mouthwatering Neapolitan Pizza Margherita

The traditional Neapolitan pizza is made with sliced tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, basil, and extra virgin olive oil.  Strong believers in the perfection of simplicity, the Neapolitans see no need to load down their pizzas with such fripperies as pepperoni, olives, mushrooms, and so on.  As Neapolitan pizza is now officially sanctioned by the EU as a Traditional Specialty Guaranteed dish, the rules for its baking are highly specific.  (Frozen pizza, or even frozen dough is, of course, unthinkable.)  The dough must be mixed with wheat flour, Neapolitan yeast, salt, and water.  The dough must be hand-kneaded, left to rise, and then hand-formed until it is 3 millimeters thick or less.  The pizza can only be baked in a stone oven, (and over an oak-wood fire,) for 60-90 seconds and at 485 degrees Celsius.  The two main variants include the Pizza Marinera, made with tomatoes, garlic, and oregano, and the ubiquitous Pizza Margherita, made with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil.  (Olive oil, of course, is a necessary ingredient to any Italian dish, including pizza.)

The Supreme Pizza, an American variation of the traditional style

Of course, such a straightforward yet delicious meal is bound to inspire countless different imitations.  The Lazio-style pizza, which originated in Rome but spread to the rest of Italy, allows for a rectangular shape and a thicker, bulkier dough.  (Ironically, a pizza topped with tomatoes, mozzarella, and anchovies in Rome is referred to as a pizza napoletana, whereas in Naples the same dish would be called a pizza romana.)  Different varieties of Lazio-style pizza, or pizza rustico, include the Pizza viennese, which has German sausages, Pizza capricciosa, which has mushrooms, artichokes, ham, and olives, Pizza quattro formaggi, which adds stracchino, fontina, gorgonzola, and occasionally ricotta to the traditional mozzarella, and Pizza bianca, which involves only olive oil, salt, and a blend of herbs for toppings.

Due to a wave of Italian immigration in the past century, pizza is now enjoyed in virtually every country in the world.  In fact, according to a 2004 survey, Norwegians eat the most pizza per capita at 50,000 tons consumed in one year.  Pizza has become a popular snack among the younger generation in South Korea, and it’s a newly emerging trend even in Middle Eastern countries like Israel and Pakistan.  And of course the UK and the United States have their various fast-food chains that form most people’s ideas of pizza.  The United States especially has its different takes on the classic Italian pizza, from the Chicago deep-dish to the Detroit twice-baked to the New York thin crust to the New Haven-style pizza which is served without cheese unless specifically requested.  But to get proper, authentic pizza of the perfect thinness, crispy texture, and delicate, savory flavor topped with fresh herbs, there is nowhere better to go than Italy.  And in all of Italy, there is nowhere better to go than Naples—your taste-buds will certainly thank you.