PIZZA

There is no sense neither in trying to find the time when the first Pizza appeared nor the name of its author. The evolution of Pizza was quite a long and many Mediterranean cultures contributed to it. There exist historical evidence that citizens of ancient Egypt, Greece and later Rome had recipes similar to modern ones. The Egyptian had a tradition to celebrate the Pharaoh’s birthday with spicy flat loaves (by the way the world owes ancient Egypt the appearance of yeast and sour dough). Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian, mentioned baked flat cakes among the Babylonian recipes and the Greek themselves called their baked flat bread plakuntos. It is supposed that this bread sometimes served for the plate.

The word Pizza appeared in printing at the end of the X century for the first time. In Neapolitan dialect the word piza was used to denote the way of snatching something from the hot oven. Though long before that Romans used the word picea to describe the bottom of the loaf blackened by ashes after baking in the oven. There is the verb pizzicare denoting to pinch in modern Italian. On the other hand etymology suggests the relation to the Near-Eastern pita; e.g. in Calabria they sometimes say pitta (flat) instead of pizza, though tomatoes are seldom used for cooking in this case.

So, the short definition for pizza may be as follows: a round and a very thin layer of yeast dough with different delicious stuff on top baked in the oven. In the XVII century pizza was already the most popular snack of the Spanish soldiers to have occupied Naples and Taverna Cerriglio was their favourite place to visit. They often folded the flat cake in two like a book and ate it holding in hands. It became a tradition to cook pizza with tomatoes in the middle of the XVII century. It took the Italian more than 200 years to get used to this strange vegetable and rid themselves of fear of it. Having been brought from South America at the beginning of the XVI century tomatoes were considered to be poisonous at first and were grown as an ornamental plant. They were called ‘golden apples’, evidently because of their small size and the yellow colour, which was typical (!!!) of them. Those were the poor from Naples who started adding tomatoes to their bread trying to make it more appetizing. To their fortune tomatoes grown on San Marzano farms not a far from Naples were particularly sweet! At the end of the XVIII century the Neapolitan distinguished several settled recipes of pizza to be stated next. Those were pizza with garlic (either rare or baked) and olive oil, pizza with small cicinielli fish and pizza with anchovy and cheese of the particular sort (mozzarella) brought to Italy shortly before (it had been invented by the Hindu in the VII century and they had made it of cow (buffalo species) milk only).

Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba was the first ever pizzery proper opened in 1830 (18 Via Port’Alba). It has been working to this very day!!! It is interesting that before that pizza had been sold alfresco (in the open air): either from stands situated in immediate proximity to the ovens or from tin baskets on barrow boys’ heads. There was a perfect oven of fire brick in Port’Alba. Later volcanic lava was recognized surpassing as it allows reaching the required temperature of 400 °C as well as retaining the heat. Here the Vesuvius proximity came in handy! The marble stove for cooking pizza and shelves with ingredients were of importance as well, not only the oven. Pizzery equipment remained the same in modern Naples. And let it be quite hot there in summer. Never mind! This agreeable warmth combined with the unique aroma makes up that miraculous and unmatched atmosphere in winter especially when one is lucky to watch the master pizzaiolo at work. Later Port’Alba pizzeria became the favourite place of the literary Bohemia. One may only guess which of his wonderful poems Gabrielle d’Annucio wrote at this very place. Was that the splendid Neapolitan song “a vucchella”? Maybe. Even Alexander Dumas had time to work at his travel notes for Corricolo. He said that pizza is a kind of flat bread cooked at St. Denis and that at first sight it is a simple pizza but at more detailed examination it appears to be quite intricate. Dumas expressed his view of pizza “a otto” in a touching manner, he considered this pizza to have been cooked eight days before it was served. Without a doubt the recipe was much more pleasant – some individuals (the lucky ones) were allowed to pay in eight days after the meal.

A remarkable event took place in June 1889. King Umberto I and queen Margherita were spending their holidays in their summer place – the Capodimonte Palace in Naples as the rules of monarchy demanded to witness their presence in the Kingdom of Both Sicilies. The Queen took a keen interest in pizza she had never tried before and most likely she got to know about it from painters and writers admitted to the court. It is obvious that Margherita the queen could not go to pizzeria rejecting all the conventionalities of her royal status. That is why pizza came to her! It was her, Margherita of Savoy, birthday when they called Raffaele Esposito, the owner of a very popular Pizzeria di Pietro, and a famous pizzaiolo to the palace. That what he was doing could be described in no other way than by Julius Caesar motto, ‘I came, I saw, I conquered!’ (Veni, Vidi, Vici). Working hand in hand with Rosa Brandi, his wife, (by the way their pizzeria was called Brandi namely) Esposito presented three kinds of pizza to the royal persons. They were pizza with fat (Hey, Ukrainians – salo!) of a special sugna sort, cheese and basil, pizza with garlic, olive oil and tomatoes and at last the third one – pizza with mozzarella, tomatoes and basil. The latter one staggered Margherita by the combination of colours similar to those of the Italian flag (though not only due to the patriotic spirit). Being sagacity himself Rafaele Esposito immediately named the third pizza Margherita. The PR-campaign was more than a mere success and a simple recipe known long before that became a classic one. They have been proud to show the letter of welcome signed Camillo Galli, the grandee responsible for the royal meal, in Pizzeria Brandi to this very day.

The end of the XIX century was marked by an outstanding event in the world history of pizza, the discovery of America by pizza. It is considered that the first American pizzeria opened in 1895 in 53 1/2 Spring Street, New York and that it had been built by Gennaro Lombardi, an Italian immigrant. But it took 50 years more and the World War II for pizza to turn into one of the symbols of the American cuisine. The ever growing demand for the Italian pizza taken the fancy of due to the war veterans return was unexpected. At first the market was full with substitutes resembling a meccano: a flat cake, tinned sauce and grated Parmesan cheese. At the beginning of 60s other networks appeared, e.g. Pizza Hut in Cansas City opened in 1958 and Domino’s Pizza in Detroit (1960). Thomas Monaghan, the Domino’s owner, main idea was guaranteed pizza delivery within 30 minutes. It was a real success! There were several mighty networks already co-existing together in the USA in the mid 70s. Besides Pizza Hut and Domino’s there were Shakey's and Little Ceasar’s. The American market met the Millenium with impressive activities: over 60 thousand pizzerias with total annual income of about $ 30 milliard!!! At the same time the absolute majority of Americans (19 of 20) buy takeaway pizza or order it to home. Three regional standards have already formed. They follow the Neapolitan tradition in the Eastern Coast (preferring thin pizza with crispy edges, tomato sauce, mozzarella and vegetable and meat adding to predominate). In the west of the USA they prefer exotic varieties of pizza like pizza with asparagus or pineapple etc. The Middle West invented its own version of pizza with rich and fluffy base and quite massive components on top. Such pizza is often cooked for more than half an hour and frankly speaking has very little in common with the Italian pizza (the traditional pizza needs several minutes cooking).

Pizza could not pass the Soviet Union by. Certainly everything began from Moscow of perestroika times where Pizza Hut was the pathfinder (among networks). Later Domino’s, Sbarro and Patio Pizza came to the market. Ten years later pizza delivery was no more surprising. For the justice’s sake we should mention the fact that all this has a slight flavour of the American approach to business and it would be a real pity if somebody drew conclusions about pizza based upon the perverted experience.

Lets get back to Italy. In spite of the huge scale of pizzeria epidemics in the USA pizza influences the local economies in its homeland as well. Here a few facts are enough to prove it: 40 thousand pizzerias (over 5 thousand of them are in Naples), 3 milliard pizzas sold annually, 2 thousand recipes, (Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana) professional association functioning and pizzaiolo fest on October 25. Even a special DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) standard exists.

There are several rules to be obligatory followed for pizza to claim to the status of Neapolitan: - the dough should contain flour, natural yeast (brewer’s yeast allowed), salt and water. No kind of fat permitted; - the diameter of pizza should not exceed 30 cm; - the dough should be made by hands or by means of certified mixers preventing it from overheating; - pizza should be rolled out by hands only. All other methods including rolling-pin application are forbidden; - pizza should be baked in the immediate bottom of the oven. Neither frying pans nor baking trays permitted; - the oven should be bricked and lined with fireproof materials similar to the volcanic rock. The oven should be burned with natural wood; - the temperature in the oven should not be less than 400 °C; - pizza should be thoroughly baked but not overdried, its edges (cornicione) should be high, gentle but crispy at the same time.

In conclusion lets say a few words about kinds and recipes of pizza. The two quintessentially classical are Margherita and Marinara (tomatoes, garlic, oregano, olive oil). There is famous Neapolitan pizzeria Da Michele that naturally makes only these two pizza and you are guaranteed to see a happy line of mostly Neapolitans at the entrance. Another classics are Cappricciosa (with artichokes and mushrooms), Calzone (closed/stuffed pizza), Quattro stagioni (symbolizes four seasons of the year) and Quattro formaggi (four cheeses). Pizza bianca is characterized by the absence of tomatoes and may have rather minimalist topping of rosemary, ground black pepper, olive oil and garlic. We should also mention a strange concoction called pizza fritta, which is actually a deep-fried calzone. This pizza represents a serious challenge to any reasonable diet. But don’t worry you won’t see it outside Naples. There are other local recipes but there is no point in competing with cookbooks in such a short essay, isn’t it?