MAIN FEATURE
TEXT
WENDY WATTA
A SLICE
OF HISTORY
Pizza has taken the world by storm, and Kenya is firmly rooted on the crust of this bandwagon. Perhaps this is because there really is a pizza to suit anyone, whatever their preferences. As you order your favourite type during our pizza festival, here’s an interesting
slice of history for you to bite into.
The Pizza Margherita is one of the
most common today, and it owes its
name to Italy’s beloved Queen Margherita. It is said that in 1889, pizza
maker Raffaele Esposito was commissioned to create a pizza in honour
of her. Of the three that he made, she
fell in love with one created in the
colours of the Italian flag; green of
basil, white of mozzarella and red of
tomato. Neapolitan style pizza has
since spread throughout the world
with Kenya being firmly rooted on
the crust of this bandwagon. So how
exactly did this phenomenon come
to be? Well, after inventing the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell got
hungry and...okay, that’s not it.
While flatbread topped with oils,
spices and such were popular
among the Greek and Egyptians,
modern day pizza can been traced
back to Naples, Italy. Today, it is
generally topped with tomato sauce
and cheese, followed by a selection of meat, vegetables and other
condiments. Before that, however,
flatbreads in Italy were often topped
with ingredients like lard, cheese,
garlic and basil. Tomatoes were
actually not used in pizzas, or Italian
22.
cuisine for that matter, until the 18th
and early 19th century, despite having reached the region in the 1530s.
This is because they were thought to
be poisonous and were actually only
ever grown for decoration. Peasants
started using this ‘deadly fruit’ in
a lot of their dishes (perhaps out
of hunger), but it took quite some
time for the rest of the society to
warm up to the idea. Tomato-based
pizzas were already being sold on
the streets of Naples by the time the
elite tried them and decided that
they were on board. Slowly, pizza
moved from being just a street food
to actually being sold in shops where
patrons could place their orders and
choose from a variety of toppings.
It was the 1830s and the first true
pizzeria, Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba,
was established. Just so you know,
it is still churning out this flatbread
in 2015! When it comes to cheese,
mozzarella was the only one used
initially, with the best quality ones
using buffalo mozzarella (made
from the milk of the domestic Italian
water buffalo). Today, other types
like provolone, ricotta, cheddar and
parmesan are often included.
Of the three
that he made,
she fell in love
with the pizza
Margherita,
created in
the colours
of the Italian
flag; green of
basil, white of
mozzarella and
red of tomato
The ‘pizza effect’ in sociology refers
to when elements of a nation’s
culture are more fully embraced
elsewhere before gaining popularity
in their country of origin. This came
from the idea that modern pizza was
popularized by Italian immigrants
in America (it was then still looked
down upon in Italy) before being
re-introduced to Italy as an accepted
delicacy. The first pizzeria in America
called Lombardi’s was opened in
New York’s ‘little Italy’ in 1905, and
it is still operational today. After the
second world war, veterans returning from the Italian campaign having
already been accustomed to food
from that region, proved a ready
market back home. Let’s just say that
pizza consumption soon exploded in
America and the rest of the world. As
did pizzerias. Many variations have
of course since come up, and a good
example would be the crust which is
now always either thin, as with the
traditional Neopolitan pizza, or thick,
as with the deep-dish Chicago style.
New trends such as pizza al taglio,
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