We’ve given a lot of space to the humble (?) Pizza in this blog and have even delved into the origins of the savoury Pie – as we knew them. But, now, I have been made privy to a storehouse of information about Pizza (via Instagram) and it turns out the eternal Pie is far older than most of us would guess…
A Roman Era Pizza Oven, immortalized in a floor Mosaic from a grand house c. 997.
Pizza did, indeed, originate in central-southern Italy…
Yes. Much older. In fact, one Pizza lover posted to Instagram that the origins of Pizza have been traced back to the year 997, when someone immortalized the baking process in a mosaic floor.
The oldest surviving Pizzeria in the world is in Naples, Italy, of course – ‘home’ of the Pie. It’s called Antica Port’Alba and it’s been pumping out the good stuff since 1830!
Pizza originally became popular in North America (outside Little Italys of the land) when returning Servicemen brought home a taste for it from Italy. And the crowd went wild…
The oldest Pizzeria in the U.S. may just be Lombardi’s Coal Oven Pizzeria in Manhattan, NY. It started out as a grocery store and began making Pizzas in 1905.
They’ve never seen or even heard of the Deep Dish Pizza in Italy, but it’s a favourite in Chicago, where it was born. If you don’t know what ‘Deep Dish’ means, it’s a Pizza made in a deep pan with upturned crust all the way to the rim forming a sort of tub, into which lots and lots of Cheese and other goodies are piled. It takes longer to bake than a standard Pizza, but the wait is worth it! The first one was made in Chicago’s Uno Pizzeria in 1943.
On average, 350 slices of Pizza are consumed every second of every day in the U.S. Seriously.
And, for your calendar… National Pizza Day is February 2. Offer a celebratory slice to your neighbourhood Groundhog when he comes out to test the weather. He’ll be really hungry – he’s been hibernating all winter!
Now you know everything. Almost. Or, at least some interesting facts about Pizza that we hadn’t enshrined here in this blog before!
~ Maggie J.