The evolution of Pizza

Trying to trace the history of the first pizza is a very controversial issue. Some claim that this popular food is based on early unleavened breads served in the early centuries in Rome. Others trace a connection from modern pizza with pita breads of Greece.

It's pretty well established that the first pizza as we know it today was created by a man named Raffaele Esposito from Naples, Italy. Creating Esposito was designed to honor the visit of Queen Margherita to Naples in 1889, and decorated with the colors of the Italian flag, with white cheese and green basil, red tomatoes (tomatoes, which had arrived from the west about sixty years earlier, originally I thought they were poisonous, but by Esposito's time they were already accepted by the Italian cuisine).

As the years passed and the turn of the century came, Italian immigrants brought this recipe with them to America. The first pizzeria was opened in America in 1905. It remained popular almost exclusively among immigrants until the end of the Second World War, when American soldiers returned to their homeland and brought back a love of the pizza they had discovered in abroad. With that, he began pizza boom in America and this food became a staple food instead of an underground Italian snack.

The concentration of Italian immigrants in New York in the old days, explains the fact that many people feel you must visit New York to get true pizzeria-style pizza. It's where the pizza has its American start, after all. And nobody who has experienced New York style pizza can disagree. New York is famous for its pizzerias, where a slice of pizza is a thin crust, large loaded with lots of ingredients and seafood and smothered in heady Italian seasonings. A side of garlic bread and some heady pastas and tortellini usually round out the menu. Pizzerias in New York are not for the faint of heart.

In the early 40's, the city of Chicago, IL took pizza in a different direction. It is believed that the first pizzeria in Chicago was Pizzeria Uno, opened in 1943 by Ike Sewell. Sewell's pizza creation was a new twist on the old New York standard. He created what is known today as thick base pizza, where the pizza is sunk low into a deeper pan, and the crust is allowed to stand in thick bubbles around the edges. People flocked to Sewell's pizzeria, and born a new way of looking at favorite food.

Today you will find some very heated debates if you argue with New York or Chicago about what constitutes authentic pizzeria-style pizza. But whatever crust style you choose, pizza is a unique food with a foggy past and a definite appeal that has lasted through many incarnations.

So you're lucky to find in New York or Chicago, or indeed in any city that has a true, complete pizzeria with checkered tablecloths and plenty of garlic on the menu, enjoy an old tradition and order a slice. After all, tradition.