Pizza
Italian flatbread dish with tomato, cheese, and toppings.
Pizza is an Italian dish made from a flat, leavened wheat dough, typically topped with tomato, cheese, and other ingredients, then baked at high heat—traditionally in a wood-fired oven. The modern version is often attributed to Raffaele Esposito, who developed it in Naples near the end of the 19th century.
The word "pizza" first appears in a Latin manuscript from 997 AD, found in the southern Italian town of Gaeta. In 2009, Neapolitan pizza was recognized by the European Union as a traditional speciality guaranteed dish. Eight years later, in 2017, the art of making Neapolitan pizza was added to UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage.
Pizza and its many variations are among the world's most popular foods. It is sold in pizzerias, Mediterranean restaurants, as street food, and through delivery services. In Italian restaurants, pizza is served whole and eaten with a knife and fork; in casual settings, it is cut into slices and eaten by hand. Grocery stores sell it frozen or as self-assembly kits, which are cooked at home in a standard oven.
In 2017, the global pizza market was valued at US$128 billion. In the United States alone, the market was $44 billion, spread across 76,000 pizzerias. On any given day, 13% of the U.S. population aged two and older consumes pizza.
- place of origin
- Italy (Naples, Campania)
- credited modern creator
- Raffaele Esposito
- US market value (2017)
- US$44 billion
Lore & Background
The text states that a tenant was to give the bishop of Gaeta twelve pizzas, a pork shoulder and kidney annually on Christmas Day, and twelve pizzas and a couple of chickens on Easter Sunday. Suggested etymologies include Byzantine Greek and Late Latin pitta, Lombardic bizzo or pizzo meaning 'mouthful', and Latin pinsere meaning 'to pound, stamp'. A person who makes pizza is known as a pizzaiolo. The word pizza was borrowed from Italian into English by at least the early 19th century; before it became well known, pizza was sometimes called 'tomato pie' by English speakers. Modern pizza evolved from similar flatbread dishes in Naples, Italy, in the 18th or early 19th century. Before that time, flatbread was often topped with ingredients such as garlic, salt, lard, and cheese. It is uncertain when tomatoes were first added and there are many conflicting claims, although it certainly could not have been before the 16th century and the Columbian Exchange. Later research cast doubt on this legend, undermining the authenticity of the letter of recognition. Pizza was taken to the United States by Italian immigrants in the late 19th century and first appeared in areas where they concentrated. Pizza appeared in the United Kingdom after World War II when Italian immigrants opened Italian restaurants in London.
Reader's Guide
Pizza and its variants are among the most popular foods in the world. Pizza is sold at a variety of restaurants, including pizzerias, Mediterranean restaurants, via delivery, and as street food. In Italy, pizza served in a restaurant is presented unsliced, and is eaten with the use of a knife and fork. In casual settings, however, it is typically cut into slices to be eaten while held in the hand. Pizza is also sold in grocery stores in a variety of forms, including frozen or as kits for self-assembly. Store-bought pizzas are then cooked using a home oven. Overall, 13% of the US population aged two years and over consumed pizza on any given day. Pizza's significance lies in its global cultural and economic impact, evolving from a regional Italian flatbread to a universally recognized food, while maintaining traditional preparation methods recognized by international bodies.
Did You Know?
- Raffaele Esposito is often credited with creating the modern version of pizza in Naples at the end of the 19th century.
- The word pizza has been used in English since at least the early 19th century.
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