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Pizza -- culinary treat brought to America a century ago
By Steve Moyer
Nevada Daily Mail
Although today people might think pizza is as American as apple pie the truth is the savory treat has a history that crosses continents and the millennia.
The first American pizzeria started in New York City in 1905. Gennaro Lombardi opened a pizzeria using a coal-fired oven. Today Lombardi's is still open and, although it has changed hands, uses the same recipe and the same ultra-hot (900 degree) oven to make their pizzas.
Since that first pizzeria opened in New York City pizza has taken over as one of the most purchased ready-to-eat meals in the United States. It didn't happen overnight, however. It wasn't until after World War II ended and American veterans returning from Italy brought back a hunger for the spicy delicacy.
Pizzeria's started popping up all over the country. In 1958 in Wichita, Kansas two college-age brothers borrowed $600 from their mother and set up shop at a busy intersection. Today the company they founded is the most successful pizza restaurant in the country, Pizza Hut.
Here in Nevada, pizza is still popular. In addition to the local national chain restaurants, there is a home-owned pizzeria that has a history of its own. Woody's wood-fired pizza was a long-time dream that finally came true.
Randy Pennington and his brother Donny had that dream, but Randy would never live to see that dream become a reality. Donny and his family vowed to bring that dream to fruition and in that way pay tribute to and show their love for Randy.
The wood-fired oven, which holds three pizzas, bakes at 455 degrees. "Sometimes we'll be so busy that we have several pizza's lined up in the kitchen waiting to go in," Sumner said.
They plan to expand the menu when they move to a new location on East Cherry Street, in the old Gordon's Pizza building. In addition to expanding the menu after the move Woody's plans to have a full bar and live entertainment. "We want to offer our customers a good time in addition to good food," Sumner said.
To understand pizza you have to go back, back to at least the bronze age and probably before that. Pizza started thousands of years ago as a simple flat bread eaten in ancient Egypt, Rome, Greece and other lands. The Greeks called theirs Plankuntos . As time passed and peoples and cultures mixed the simple flat bread acquired toppings. The Greeks used to top the pizza with olive oil, spices and herbs.
An old Roman recipe calls for chicken meat, pine kernels, cheese, garlic, mint, pepper, and oil.
One thing they didn't have on them was tomatoes or tomato sauce, since tomatoes weren't brought back from South America until the 16th century.
The name pizza might come from the Latin word for magpie, pica, which over the years may have morphed to the modern pizza.
Another theory suggests that the name originated with the Italian word for a point which morphed into pizzacare which means to pinch or pluck and later changed to pizza.
However it started and however it got the name pizza it wasn't until 1830 that the first pizzeria in the world opened up in Naples, Italy. This pizzeria, Antica Pizzaria Port'Alba, is still cranking out pizzas today. The early pizzerias sold pizzas that usually had no toppings but two things combined to change pizza forever.
In the 1880's Queen Margherita was accompanying her husband King Umberto 1 on a tour of Italy. She noticed many people eating this flat bread and asked to try it.
She enjoyed the taste and would often stop and get some of the tasty bread. This shocked many in Italy because pizza was considered a bread that only the peasants ate.
In 1889 Margherita asked one of Naples best pizzerias to bring her some of their wares. By that time Neapolitans had accepted the tomato and used it in many dishes, including the pizza.
Chef Rafaelle Esposito brought three pizzas, one of them topped with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil which proved to be Queen Margharita's favorite. This pizza, Pizza Margherita, is a culinary tradition which is still popular today.