PIZZA is a favourite food around the globe, with the worldwide market worth a staggering £105.87billion.
But where did pizza come from – and who created the tasty treat?
Who invented pizza?
The modern version of pizza is credited to Italy's Campania region, which is home to the city of Naples.
Poor Neapolitans ate flatbreads with various toppings such as tomatoes, cheese, oil, anchovies and garlic in the late 17th century.
But no one person or culture can actually be credited with the invention of pizza.
Certain people have played important roles in the development and spread of the popular food.
Ancient Sardinians apparently left evidence of baked bread, which forms the base of pizza, around 7,000 years ago.
Later on, Ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and many others left archaeological and written proof of eating flat-breads baked with toppings of vegetables, oil, herbs, and even cheese.
It is thought that Persian soldiers may even have baked flat-breads on their shields.
Brits in Shakespeare’s day are thought to have eaten their food off thick slices of bread, instead of china plates – even if they didn’t necessarily eat the bread.
Italians went big with the pizza industry in the 1800s, exporting it to the USA towards the end of that century, where it boomed yet again.
Raffaele Esposito is said to have created the classic Margherita Pizza in 1889 – but even if this is a myth, pizza was very popular in his home town of Naples, Italy.
Ric Ricardo is believed to have created deep-dish pizza in the USA in the 1940s, and Ira Nevin developed the first gas-fired pizza oven in 1945.
In 1983, a woman named Carmela Vitale, in New York, patented the idea for a plastic circle to prevent the pizza hitting the top of the pizza box, which isalso now used for cakes.
Kraft came up with the first self-raising crust in the 1990s, and Dominos, originally Dominik’s, was among the first to deliver pizza to our homes.
Dominos were ahead of the game in setting up a website, in 1996, and a pizza tracker in 2008.
Where was pizza invented?
The invention of pizza can’t be traced to one place, because the most basic idea of pizza – flat-bread baked with toppings – is pretty global, right back through history.
However, certain types of pizza have been recognised as Italian speciality food, which has been modified all around the world.
Pizza became a widely eaten street food in Italy, Naples in particular, around 1800, as it was cheap and easy to eat.
In Naples the first pizzeria, Antica Pizzeria Port-Alba, was opened in 1830.
Pizza Marinara, topped with seafood and oregano, was among the first popular pizzas served to tourists and locals alike.
Italians spread the joy of pizza to the USA and other parts of Europe when many of them emigrated in the early 1900s.
The first pizzeria in North America, Lombardi’s, was opened by Gennaro Lombardi in New York in 1905.
Frozen pizza started to be sold in shops, replacing fresh tomatoes with tomato paste, in the 1950s.
And pizza continues to be adapted to fit different modern cultures all around the world.
In fact, 2017 marked the year that Naples pizza-making was given Unesco World Heritage Status.
Who was Raffaele Esposito?
Raffaele Esposito was a pizza maker from Naples.
There is a story that Raffaele Esposito created a pizza in the style of the Italian flag for Queen Margherita of Savoy, when she visited Naples in 1889.
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He is thought to have used tomatoes, mozarella and basil to represent the red, white and green of the Italian flag – and, so the story goes, the Queen said it was her favourite.
Esposito’s restaurant, Pizzeria di Pietro e Basta, is still open in Naples – although now renamed Pizerria Brandi – and it is said to have the Queen's thank-you letter on display.
Another pizza myth exists about American soldiers bringing the idea of pizza home after World War II, but there is no evidence for this.
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