Interesting Pizza Facts

The origin of pizza is a long and winding trail, and in order to simplify it, we will look at it like a family tree. Where do you think pizza was born - Italy? Well, you are only half right. The great-grandparent of pizza is the flat bread, and that can be traced back to the Stone Age. This great-grandparent made its happy way all through the ancient world.

Then a version of this flat bread, pizza’s grandparent, was born. We can’t be exactly sure where in the Mediterranean it began, but we do know it traveled through Babylonia, Greece, and Italy. Sometimes called focaccia, it is flat bread jazzed up with spices, herbs, oils, cheese, and other regional, readily available items.

Pizza’s parent was born when some daredevil, suicidal maniac or just one desperately hungry dude, in the mid-1700s, decided to add a tomato. You laugh, but when the tomato plant was imported from the New World, people thought it was poisonous. Once they got over their poisoning fear, pizza took on a whole new look and dimension. Even though pizza’s parent was still considered peasant food, it became fit for both royalty and the common folk. In fact, in the late 1800s, a very special pizza, called the Margherita, was created for Italy’s king and queen and is still an Italian pizza classic.

The pizza sitting on your plate came from Italian immigrants and was made popular by WWII soldiers, who couldn’t forget that particular taste of Italy. Today you can find pizza’s cousins all over the United States (and the world) - deep dish in Chicago, thin crust in New York, and more!