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Home EO.CUTCANTAStiNqROOM CONINECTION Eoicurean Traveler THE PIZZA Discussion text @ 2oo7 by Lucy Gordan BesggIslEs Contact !15 ,May t,2OO7 Site Mao !L__- r:-L^_ ;--^ri-larrr aama ra ThinkItaliancuisineandthreedishesimmediate|ycometo'"';-;. Media Kil ::;;;-*'-i^-.t^ anA nizza vct none of them :l 'h la .s{!Ee\r-h. BavAreawinewriters ffiffi:illH,,r'."fiffiur"*"',":*,",*:*ll, il Links bornmore than 3,000 years ago in ancientEgypt, !l .q[f LSf*Aa*{gl*-' etymologists believe the term "pizza" is derived from an gtr+Jiilr"T'-T,.T]#,J,.::f,:#l;tl.;",''ilh*"fii^"il':ffiil --rE*- ,rt) fz'e\ PizzaOvens & Preo pluck.',This word appearsfor the first time in a Neapolitan Tables dialect- "picea" or'"pizl" - as earlyas the year 997 AD" ffi=.srf:tl";,*" i5*:ili,fnl ;*iir*m"n[*;{ rft:'-" il $'ffi $ Now! r www.EquipmentsupplyCo.compizza, made with flour, yeast, Salt, and water, has obviOus I .and analogiesin Greek, Turkish, and Middle Eastern i Brickpizza ovens lu:,,:"-9',o1:-1.f::l::::1:^r'I"^I::::T.:!:::.?:::3"'.'iis.definitelythe singlefood most firmly associated sourcesfor qualitybrick but it pizzaovensatbestwithlta|yandinparticularwithNap|es'Thefirst prices.order now! pizzabrickoveninfo fl:::fr:ffill'i'ni,''l3lin?:"'ilJ::.",T:"#llffi'I"Tfl.,* pizzasovens. But it was pizzawithout mozzarellaand tomatoes. and Naplesafter the fall of commercial pizza oven when the Lombardsinvaded the boot and settled betweenRome Conveyorovens for hish- theRo-AaJr t.qry,=$grr brorshtbuffaloeswitqt*T ry-pt9::?1111t::t^T:-t-t1fl,':: i|orn

foodoperations Neaporitansaitors broueht the first seeds www.Star-Mfg.com I,Ft.lrq'ii'iojo.ur tesend, lJ- from Peru.

the was held in low esteem - it was believedto be RestaurantPizzaOven|E[noison-ous_.bymost.Europ.eans,th:t?1'-?":?|"^:'.l...o5:

BusinessBusiness Be1 *miJ HJf T:Ji ?:JH :llY,:ji:i W.Here '- lm: F",n ri.j:':*Iil":i :::, www.busine$.com llffit-l['+'*TY;H;ixili;'i;i:ilfi?;il,"iili*Ti5:{.4llilii'od. By the seventeenthcentury it had achieveda notoriety visitoiswho wouldgo to poor neighborhoods,in particular ,'6uartieri peasant | . ,io- hf," Spagnoli"orl'Spanish Quarter'to taste this '{,f local Pizza Restaurants I -'ti,.1g1ilJisn.uOe by"piz2aioti"(pizza makers), but it still remaineda Sa\,etime{Reviewour#|ai'n.ttwasio|dfromopen-airstandsandstreetvendors. I ' listingsof local ' King of restaurants. Another appassionatowas FerdinandI (1751-1825),the conservativeand reactionary Santa yelowBook.com Naplesand of the Two Sicilies,who liked to go incognitoto savor pizzain the Salita Antoniette,a teiesa. To give his bride the Austrianprincess Marie Caroline, sister of Marie pizza such a taste, he inviteAthe famouSpizzaiolo Armando Testa to court. Testa's was

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successthat the Marie Caroline built a specialpizza oven at the summer palace of to be Capodimonte.The king wanted to honor Testa, but the only recognition he wanted was called Monsu like the French chefs at Court.

Also,it was not until the nineteenthcentury - aboutthree hundredyears after the tomato- pizza that mozzarellacheese (still madefrom buffalo,not cow's,milk) becamea standard ingredient. Legend has it that the famous Neapolitanpizzaiolo + Raffaele Esposito of the Pizzeria di Pietro (or maybe his wife Maria or Rosa Brandi, nicknamed Pasqualina)was the first to L'i' make the ,, and tomato pizzain honor of the visit to Naples on November 6, 1889 of ltaly's Queen Margherita.Thinking that the commonly-usedseasoning of bad- smelling was unworthy of royalty, he replaced it with mozzarefla. This dish, thereafter or tricolore (after the three colors of the toppings and of the ltalian flag), becamevery popular immediately' The other truly genuine, yet older (thus sometimes called "the queen mother"), is called marinara either because it was the first food fisherman ate on return from their catch or because its toppings of oil, tomato, garlic, and oregano (thought by some to be an aphrodisiac)could be stowed on voyages so that sailors (marinai) of this seafaringcity could make pizza away from nome. Qucen Marghcrita From Naples to New York of Indeed, pizza remained a local delicary until the concept crossedthe Atlantic at the turn the last century in the memories of immigrants from Napleswho settled in the cities of along the eastern seaboardof the , especiallyNew York City' The ingredientsthe was immigrants found in their new country differed from those in the old, In New York there no buffalo-milk mozzarella,so cow's-milk mozzarellawas used; oregano, a stable southern Italian herb, was replaced in America by sweet majoram, and the flavor of American pie, tomatoes, flour, even water was different. Here the pizza evolved into a large, wheel-like perhaps eighteen inches or more in diameter, reflectingthe abundanceof the new country' first American PizzasmaY have been at home, but the baker's brick oven, fuefed by wood, or forno al legno, of all poplar, was and still is essentialto ng a true pizza. Not to mention, that, for best results, the dough must always be -kneaded, allowed to "rest" overnight in a n trough, and then flattened bY hand, ever with a rolling-pinor by machine.Indeed recent Italian law has spelled out six regola 'arte or rules for the making of a "pizza DOC pizza napoletana verace, in other words a ine Neapolitanpizza: 1) the tomatoes be San Marzano, 2) the mozzarella -milk, 3) the oil must be olive, 4) the Bay of Naplcs t naturalnot imitation,5) the oven must be domed, made of bricks, and wood-burning at between 420-80 degrees, and 6) the dough must be kneaded by hand with no rolling pins or blendersallowed.

To make sure these standards are enforced in 1984 the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana orThe Associationof the Authentic NeapolitanPizza,Via S' Maria La Nova 49, tel' 081- pizza in 4ZOIZOS,was founded. Would-be pizzaioti can enroll in ltaly's two Accademie della it Brescianear Milan or in Caorle, haif-way between Venice and Trieste, not in Naples,believe or not! pizzaiolo from The first licensed pizzeria in New York was opened by Gennaro Lombardi, a Naples,in 1895 on Spring Street, but others quickly followed in the Italian communities outside around the city. Still. pizla and pizzeriasand, later, "pizza parlors" were little known

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the largecities of the Eastuntil after world war II, when returningAmerican G.I.s brought with the backa taste for the pizzasthey had had in Naplesduring the Allies'occupation along of a assumptionthat pizza,like and ,was a typicalItalian dish, instead regionalone.

National Statistics In fact, until abouttwenty yearsago it was next to impossibleto find pizzaon the menu of north of Rome.Toclay, however, aicording to BurtonAnderson, in his delightfulTreasures year, the ltatianIable (williamMorrow, Ig94),Italians eat morethan 2.5 billion a morethan 45 per person,in over 38,000pizzerie for a profitof over 6.3 billiondollars. Other go to a statistics.eport that 82% of the populationchose pizza as their favorite food; 61'8o/o pizzeriaevery weekend;and 75o/oof these eat there, for the other 25oloit's take-home' To of accomplishthis, accordingto CIA - La Confederazioneltaliana agricoltori(The Federation of ItafianFarmers), every y6ar 'spizzaioti consume 7,500 tons of oliveoil, 90,000tons of mozzarella,45,000 tonsof tomatoes(San Marzano,Pachino, and Citiegino),135,000 tons 30olo flour,and i00,000,000basil leaves. As the accompanyingbeverage 50o/o choose beer, mineralwater or a soft drink, and2oo/o wine, usually white andfizzy' rious Pizza four yearsago, in February2003' I ed a shortreview here of a splendidbook ffedfa Pizza:The True Story from Naplesby Swede Nikko Amandonico(Mitchell Beazley, 1, nowavailable in paperback)'Since then an-speakingpizzaphiles and epicureantravelers whet their appetitesby purchasingOrietta Ludovisi's Le migliori pizzerie d'Italia: za supremosfizio, publishedby RAI,the Italian Television, as well as Pizzerie d'Italia,

r PizzaMarinara as well as the bestpizzerie outside ltaly. It cites two locationsin Manhattan:Pizza Fresca,3l 212- East20th Street,tel. 212-5980141and lJnaPizza Napoletana,34g East 12th Street,tel. pizza 477gg5}.None of thesethree booksare amongthe 64,206titles which include available from www.amazon.com,

In and Around NaPles Althoughthe Americanpromotion of pizzahas resultedin its becomingan international pizza'Some favorit6,from Tuscaloosato Tokyo,nonetheless, Naples remains "the place"for a nation's say it's all in the water whichexplains why the coffeein Naplesis alsoconsidered the ueit,uutthat,sanotherstory.Nevertheless,Naples'sbest pizzerias,mostly members of the AssociazioneVerace eizza 'Napotetaina, po6'Alba ll!1ff;.:7',i.|;,$;4 are!79-year-old Port'Alba,Yia .tt, , lY'T)i-ZI7u;o J tet. Ogf-+Sg713,closed on Wednesday;Pasquale Parziale's litr* ",1'=fl ':tzza 3f,fll3;I1ff:'fr''3e',',:i't3ii!3it;x"':;:,';'llu**n| . iil I I Cl studentsin spite of its surly waiters; the favorite of the ':irl ldf-1''o'"' | 'i'l-. ? famousNeapolitan comediins Totd, EduardoDe Filippoand | I - Nino Taranto,family-run Da Michele,Via Sersale,I/31.5/7, ;i;jr**l l;-.,1S, |r ' ''' Sf.'vp tel. 081-5539024, closed sunday, founded in 1870 by lTr=.a of ll Pizzaiolodcl Presidente Michele condurro and now run by his great-grandchildren, I Emestocacialli which serves onfy pizza margherita and ; Il for a pizzaiolodet presidente,Via-Tribunali 72o-L2L, tel. 081-210903,where Clinton stopped proprietor, snackof margheritapiegata in quattro ("foldedin four"), consideredby the ErnestoCacialli,tobetfieonlyrealpizzaiandTrianondaCiro,ViaColletta 42/46, tel'081- 5539426,closed Sunday and lunchtime,with marble-toppedtables and delicious"pizza fasagna".The ownerof'Brandi , SalitaSant'Anna di Palazzo1, tel. 081-416928,closed Mon-day,near the San CarloOpera House, is a descendantof RaffaeleEsposito's wife, the of inventoi of the margherita,Pavarotti's favorite wheel; and AntonioPace, the President Associazioneverace pizza'Napoletana and owner of Ciro a SantaBrigida, Via SantaBrigida

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7!, tel.0g1-5524072,claims one of his ancestorsinvented the "quattrostagioni" or "four seasons"with its four differenttoppings to pleasehis family'sdifferent palates.

For mouth-wateringpizzas outside but near Naples,go to UmbertoFornito's Pizzeria Antica Frattese,Vicolo II Durante2, in Frattamaggiore,tel. 081- 8348722;Gigino, Pizza al metro, Via Nicotera10, in Vico Equense about30 kilometerssouth on the breath-takingAmalfi Coast, where pizzais servedby the meter at long trestle tables,or, on the terraceoverlooking the Bay of Naplesat The Hotel Santa Caterinain Amalfi itself. Elsewheremy choicesare: Pizzaal Metro'sRoman branch calledGaudi, Via Giovanelli8/L2; Pizza NuovoMondo, Via Amerigo Vespucci 9-17 alsoin Rome; Lombardi's,owned by the namesakegrandson of the BigApple's first pizzaiolo,32 Spring Street, and Tiramisu,L4LO Third Avenue on the cornerof 80th Street, both in Manhattan;and Patsy's Pizzeria,lg FultonStreet, under the BrooklynBridge in Brooklyn, whichhas regularlybeen awarded first prizefor the best pizza outsideNaples by the Associationof Neapolitanpizzaioli. , the word NewYork food critic Ed Levine,author of : A Sticeof Heaven:the best pizzain the USA not bakedin the BigApple, but in Phoenix' by Bronx-bornChris Bianco athis Pizzeria (623 E. AdamsStreet, Heritage Square, tel' -258-8300,Tuesday-Saturday 5-10 PM).

fans unitel February9th is InternationalPizza and the GuinnessBook of Recordsstates that :hefargest pizzaever eaten - 100 feet plus one nchacross and cut into94,248slices - was made n Havana, Florida in 1987. &&&&&&&&&&&&&

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