Pizza is an Italian dish consisting of a flat base of leavened wheat dough topped with tomato, cheese, and other ingredients, then baked at high temperature. The word pizza was first recorded in the year 997 in a Latin manuscript from Gaeta in southern Italy, but the dish familiar today developed in Naples during the 18th and early 19th centuries, with the chef Raffaele Esposito credited with creating its most iconic version in the late 19th century. Neapolitan pizza received European Union protected status in 2009, and UNESCO recognized the art of Neapolitan pizza making as intangible cultural heritage in 2017. Toppings and styles vary enormously by region, but mozzarella cheese over tomato sauce remains the most recognizable form, and pizza and its variants are today among the most widely eaten foods in the world.
Facts
Disputed
Origin Period, From (Year)Sourced to the subject's own accountMarks the approximate start of the 18th century, the beginning of the period Wikipedia credits for pizza's evolution from earlier Neapolitan flatbread dishes; the source gives only the century range (18th or early 19th), no more precise year. Origin Period, To (Year)Sourced to the subject's own accountMarks about 1830, when Naples pizzerias began offering seated stanze, the point sources treat as pizza reaching a recognizable sit-down dish; the source itself says only approximately 1830. Origin RegionSourced to the subject's own account FAQs
Was pizza Margherita really invented for a queen?
The queen story is a popular legend that food historians have found holes in.
The popular story says the queen of Italy visited Naples in 1889 and the pizza maker Raffaele Esposito named a pizza after her. Food historians have found holes in the account. The Gazette of the Kingdom of Italy, which published royal news, has no mention of the queen's visit or of the letter said to have been sent to Esposito, and local records show no contemporary reference to the incident. The dish also existed at least three decades before any royal visit to Naples.
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Source Pizza (Wikipedia)
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Source Pizza (Wikipedia)tier 3
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1. Pizza (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHistory, evolution paragraph
Modern pizza evolved from similar flatbread dishes in Naples, Italy, in the 18th or early 19th century.
History, pizzeria seating paragraph
Pizza was sold from open-air stands and out of pizza bakeries until about 1830, when pizzerias in Naples started to have stanze with tables where clients could sit and eat their pizzas on the spot.
- In Cuisine: Italian Cuisine, Wikipedia category list
- Uses Ingredient: Mozzarella, Infobox main_ingredient field: Dough, sauce (usually tomato sauce), cheese (typically mozzarella)
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