Not only is pizza one of the most popular foods in the world, but it also has a fascinating history

(Reader’s Digest) Though says the Ezzo most people point to Italy when family beg they think of the first-ever pizza, making t historians agree the dish has an s a u s a g e even longer history—provided you Canastota, define pizza broadly Consider, for York, in 1906, instance, flatbreads Ancient may have Greeks,Romans,andEgyptiansate first to sell it these topped with various oils and Butfoodhistorians herbs. Even as far back as the sixth wasn’t until centuryBCE,Persianswerebaking pizza place in New Haven put typically topped with canned flatbreads covered in cheese and pepperoni on a pie, that the spicy pineapple and ham, but may also dates, pizza toppings that would be sausagebecameapizzatopping. include peppers, bacon, and/or at home at a modern artisanal pizza

Still, it wasn’t a national mushrooms—doesn’t come from place. phenomenon—at least not yet. The Hawaii either The sweet and

But pizza as we know it today rise in popularity has Domino’s to savory pie is actually believed to started off as a sort of flatbread that thank. Yes, that Domino’s. It may have originated in Canada. Yes, was popular in poor sections of not be America’s favorite pizza Canada. Naples,Italy chain or the best pizzeria in your According to the Modernist

When pizza was state, but it certainly became a Pizza book collection, French originally invented? majorplayer Canadian, Sam Panopoulos, is

Historians haven’t pinpointed “In the 1980s, Ezzo [Sausage often credited as having invented an exact date for the creation of Company] began making theHawaiianpizzain1962.Butthe pizza, but they’ve been able to pepperoni for a small chain called authors note that a 1957 ad for narrow down the window quite a Domino’s,”Turkell says.The rapid Francine’s Pizza Jungle in Oregon bit. Tomatoes originated in the growth of Domino’s pizza, advertisedaHawaiianpizzatopped West but didn’t make their way to combinedwiththepopularityofthe with pineapple, papaya, and green stories,thecreationofthispizzaisa When did pizza reachAmerica? Europeuntilaroundthe1500s(they

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‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ peppers. little murky One version of the Pizza could be found in the weren’t initially embraced because cartoon, firmly positioned

Who gets credit for inventing it story claims that your favorite United States as early as the 1910s. theywerethoughttobepoisonous), pepperoni as a favorite pizza first: the earlier Oregonian Friday night meal was created It popped up on the East Coast and so pizza couldn’t have come into to when the soon-to-be king and in the Midwest places like existenceuntilafterthattime. some queen of Italy visited Naples in Omaha, Nebraska, and Racine,

A book from 1799 narrows being 1889. In an attempt to be a sort of Wisconsin. But if we’re talking pizza’s birthday even further: It 50

“queen of the people,” the future about where pizza became famous describes pizza as being a dough these monarch insisted on eating as the in the United States, then we’re How did Hawaiian pizza that meant talking about New York City, even thepoor if it’s not always ranked number of Savoy oneforthebestpizzainAmerica. Hawaiian e d t h e While Lombardi’s in s nt pizza Manhattan became the first debate, in Naples, licensed U.S. pizzeria in 1905, just Rafael Esposito, pizza historian, Peter Regas says T triedseveral there’s no evidence to confirm that d his pies itwasthefirstpizzeriainNewYork ab e topped City Hebelievesthatpizzeriasmay origin th garlic havefirstopenedacrosstheriverin well. n o t h e r theboroughofBrooklyn. dotted with Who invented pepperoni pizza? nchovies Unlike the origin of pizza, A n d y e t whichcanbetracedbacktoNaples, n o t h e r the origin of pepperoni pizza overed in couldn’t be further from Italy In

You’ve probably Hawaiianpizza?Youbethejudge. tomatosauce fact,Italiansfrownuponpepperoni, guessed that, unlike Italian pizza, If the idea of chowing down on and sprinkled whichyou’llneverfindasatopping Hawaiianpizzadidn’tcometoyour pineapple-topped pizza is offi t h inthecountry local pizzeria by way of Italy But putting, go with a classic like z a r e l l a Michael HarlanTurkell, host of you’ll probably be surprised to green peppers, mushrooms, or cheese and basil. the ‘Modernist Pizza Podcast’, learn that the dish which is eggplant nal pizza conveniently colors of the was her Esposito named it after his future

Granted, some of these details with tomato sauce and cheese, so can’t be confirmed, and other we know it was invented by at least versions state that Margherita was then. already the queen and tried pizza

And thanks to an Italian census because she was bored with the takeninthelate1700s,whichlisted French cuisine at court.The former a handful of people as “pizolas” story does seem just a little too (pizza makers) in Naples, we know good to be true, but the the dish was well enough known to establishment (known as Pizzeria giverisetoaprofession.

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