The Story of The Yummy Pizzas

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A recent research states that, 670 million pounds of cheese is sold every year, 75 acres of cheese is eaten every day, 50 million tons of frozen pizza is sold every year and more than 4 billion fresh pizzas were sold last year. Canada's own Pizza processing makes 28 million orders a year at a rate of 50 per minute. The statistics reflects our deep hunger for pizza. However, have you ever taught how it all originated? Who was the person behind, offering the world the crispy yummy treat? Read the history of pizza to appreciate how outside influences can be assimilated into culture and its cuisine.

In the 18th century in Naples, Pizza was simply a garnished flat bread sold by roaming vendors to the poor in the street. In 1889 when queen Margherita was accompanying her husband, Umberto I of Savoia on an inspection of his

Italian Kingdom, she saw many peasants and poor people eating a flat bread which they called "Pizza". The queen was curious about this varied food, which the poor relished. She summoned her guards to ask them bring her a piece of this flat bread. The queen relished the food to such an extent that she would ask for it every time she went out of her palace.

The queen's liking for the poor man's meal was considered somewhat undesirable in court circles. However she was extremely popular with the masses for her kind gestures. One day, on the queen's insistence Raffaele Esposito was summoned from his pizzeria to the palace to bake a selection of Pizzas for the queen. Raffaele, in order to honour the queens desire for the pizzas baked a special pizza with tomato, Mozzarella cheese and basil the colours of the Italian flag – red, white and green. The pizza, with a patriotic theme was a great hit with the queen and in the country. When the news got out that the queen's favourite was topped with tomato, mozzarella & basil, she not only became an even greater hit with the public, but also started a trend for the Pizza Margherita that has lasted in Naples and around the world to this day.

Although the perfect Pizza may be an Italian product, but the idea of using bread as a plate came from the Greeks, who ate flat round bread baked with an assortment of toppings. The tomato came to Italy from Mexico and Peru through Spain in the 16th century as an ornamental plant. It was first thought to be a poisonous plant. True mozzarella is made from the milk of the buffalo imported from India in the 7th century.

By the beginning of the 19th century, Pizza paved its way to the inner cities of United States, with the help of Italian immigrants, most notably New York and Chicago. Small cafes began offering the Italian favorite. At the end of World War II, American soldiers further prompted the dish to become very popular, having been exposed to it while serving on the Italian front.

To know more about pizza, the first fast food known to man read the forthcoming series on the worlds best Pizzeria's.