Do You Know That Pizza

Do you know that pizza.. Pizza has a long and complex history. In the eighteenth century, the pizza was a dish for the poor, it was sold on the street and it was not considered a recipe for a long time. In June 1889, to honor the Italian Queen Margherita of Savoy, the chef Raffaele Esposito created the "Pizza Margherita", a pizza topped with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil, to represent the colors of the Italian flag, red, white and green (he was the first who added mozzarella). Until about 1830 pizza was sold in market stalls and out of the bakeries. Some pizzerias keep alive this tradition even today. “Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba” in Naples is considered the oldest pizzeria in the city: they started making pizzas in 1738. A description of pizza in Naples around 1835 is given by the writer and expert on French food Alexandre Dumas (father) in his work The Corricolo, Chapter VIII. He wrote that pizza was the only food for the humble people in Naples during the winter, and that "in Naples pizza is flavored with oil, lard, cheese, tomato, or anchovies." Slowly this popular food source enriched with tomato spread to all social classes and in all Italian regions. It also began to spread places specialized in the preparation of the pizza. First, probably the pizza’s bakery in which people ate standing on the street and then, later, trattorias and pizzerias. Until the beginning of the twentieth century pizza and pizzerias are a purely Neapolitan phenomenon (in northern Italy pizza began to spread after World War II). Then, after the Second World War with the emigration of many Italians, pizza begins to spread abroad, adapting to the tastes of different countries and becoming a worldwide phenomenon. The Neapolitans take their pizza very seriously. Purists, like the famous pizzeria "Da Michele" (founded 1870) argue that there are only two true pizzas: the "Marinara" and the "Margherita". Marinara is the oldest one and and its ingredients are tomatoes, oregano, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and usually basil. It has been called Marinara not, as many believe, because it contains fish (it doesn’t) but because it was the food that fishermen ate when they came home from long days of fishing in the Bay of Naples. Pizza margherita is instead attributed to the baker Raffaele Esposito, who worked at the pizzeria "Pietro ... e basta", which was founded in 1880 and still operates today under the name "Pizzeria Brandi". "True Neapolitan Pizza Association" (Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana), founded in 1984, only recognizes the Marinara and Margherita and has established very specific rules that must be followed for an authentic Neapolitan pizza. These rules include that the pizza should be cooked in a wood-fired brick oven, at a temperature of 485°C for no more than 60-90 seconds; that the base should be done by hand and should not be used a rolling pin or other mechanical means for its preparation (pizza makers make the shape of the pizza with their hands making it "runs" with their fingers) and that the pizza must not exceed 35 cm in diameter or be thick over 3mm at the center. The association also selects the pizzerias in the world to produce and diffuse the philosophy and method of true Neapolitan pizza. .

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