Pizza is a circular flat bread that oozes cheese, meat, sauces, and salads. That is such a basic and almost criminal description of arguably one of the most famous items in fast food and comfort foods. Whenever you talk about fast food pizza and burgers are the first food items that float up in our mind. But, whenever we speak about Pizzas, we get caught up in its taste and ingredients. But don’t you ever want to know what the pizza’s origins are? Where did the round flat bread originated? And how did today’s pizza come to be? Well, we will be answering these questions today, as we tell you about the origins and a brief history of Pizza!

The beginnings

The history of the pizza timeline is a bit longer than you may think. Pizzas are an ancient form of food. Flatbreads with toppings such as the modern pizza, were regular items in the food tables of Romans, Ancient Egyptians, and Greeks. But the modern or traditional pizza came into existence in the city of Naples. Naples is an Italian city in the Southwestern region. Here, in the 1700s , Naples city had a lot of working class people. As a waterfront city, these working class, poor people became a dense part of Naples City. The people here had a need to consume quick meals to get to their work quickly. So, around that time, the round flatbread with herbs, toppings, and small fish like anchovies became quite popular. Thus, Pizza was born. Small street vendors in Naples, sold these Pizzas to meet the needs of the blue collar Naples workers. 

After the unification of Italy in 1861, Their king at the time (Umberto the first), travelled with his queen to naples. They had had enough of their upper class French standard of food that they were being served during their travels. So, the king ordered his subjects to bring a mix of Pizzas from Naples. Queen Margherita enjoyed Pizza topped with soft white cheese called Mozzarella along with tomatoes and green basil. That certain Pizza was named Pizza Margherita from then on.

Progression

After the origin of Pizza, the flatbread would be just popular within Italy. After the 1940s though, Italian Immigrants would come to the shores of the United States, because of the raging World War. The immigrants from Naples came to U.S cities such as Boston, St. Louis in Missouri, Chicago, New Haven, and of course, New York. Immigrants would make crusty reimaginings of the Naples pizzas. As immigrants got work as factory help, the eating habits spread like wildfire. Non-Italians were also falling in love with the many toppings, smells, and cheesy goodness of the Naples delicacy. In Manhattan, Gennaro Lombardi was the first vendor who registered as a Pizza store in Manhattan. It’s still in operation to this day. There were many other pizza places opening up in the U.S. like Pepe’s, Mario’s, etc. 

History of Pizza: The Present

After the 2nd World War, American industries spread across the world. Pizza had already been established as an American import, in spite of its Italian origins. It spread across the world. Even Pizza places opened up in Bangladesh. Domino’s, Pizza Hut spread across 60 countries and now Pizza is an international fast food. 

Now, you can order your favorite Pizza from Hungrynaki. Choose from our wide variety of restaurants and enjoy your favorite pizza slice!