Pizza

[Nachtengel]

I like to make my own pizza, because I'm very picky with the ingredients. I don't like olives on the pizza for one. It's not hard to make your own pizza. Some markets sell pizza dough for those who aren't patient to make the dough. Then you just put the ingredients you want on it and place it in the oven. Yum yum!

[Æmeric]

Sure, do whatever you want, but don´t hope the Italians (or who bakes the pizza for you) will ever leave America with people like you living there and paying money for them.

Most people involved with pizza making are not Italian. The founder & CEO of Papa John's (a popular pizzeria chain) is John Schnatter. We don't need Italians to make Italian food for us, just like we don't need Chinese people to staff Chinese restaurants or Thais for Thia restaurants etc... except in the latter-cases there are some people who think it is not authentic if you are not waited on by a member of the appropriate ethnicity.

You should also remember that the tomato is a New World plant. There would be no pizza or any Italian cuisine as we now know it without the tomato. So you might say that pizza is an American food.

[Mrs. Lyfing]

You should also remember that the tomato is a New World plant. There would be no pizza or any Italian cuisine as we now know it without the tomato. So you might say that pizza is an American food.

I knew that why didn't I think of it first awwww shucks

[Praetorianer]

Most people involved with pizza making are not Italian. The founder & CEO of Papa John's (a popular pizzeria chain) is John Schnatter. We don't need Italians to make Italian food for us, just like we don't need Chinese people to staff Chinese restaurants or Thais for Thia restaurants etc...

I apologize for this mistake, but in Germany you can be sure that China-food is made by Chinese and Pizza made by Italians, kepab made by Turks etc.

[Gorm the Old]

It has been my experience that the vast majority of pizzerias in the US are run by Greeks. But, whoever makes it, pizza is an AMERICAN dish. The WORD "pizza" comes from the Bay of Naples area, but none of the "pizzas" of that area before the late 1950's bore any resemblance to what we call a pizza, namely, a tomato-and-cheese pie.

By 1954, pizza had begun to become popular in the US, though often called "apizza", "lapizza" or even "lupizza". I was in Italy at the time and sought pizza in Taranto, Genova, Livorno, Firenze, Pisa, and Roma. IT DID NOT EXIST.

Friends of mine who visited Italy later have told me that they did not encounter pizza until after 1960. The only place where I found pizza in southern Europe in 1954 was at a small pizzeria on the Rue Canebiere in
Marseilles, France. This establishment was run by a deportee from Brooklyn, N.Y.

Pizza definitely existed at Lake Parsippany, NJ in 1921. [The mother of a colleague of mine remembered eating it there then as a little girl.] It was called "tomato pie." It is claimed that it was invented by the chef at Tiffany's Restaurant in New York City in 1897 . This has been disputed.

Anyhow, pizza was introduced to Italy and the rest of Europe from the United States in the late 1950's or early 1960's. Most good pizzerias use fresh ingredients in making their pizzas and they are wholesome nourishing [if a tad indigestible] food.

[Sigurd]

You should also remember that the tomato is a New World plant. There would be no pizza or any Italian cuisine as we now know it without the tomato.

There are several excellent Italian dishes which do not require the use of a tomato in the slightest.

Spaghetti Alio e Olio con Frutti di Mare.



Risotto ai Funghi



Pasta e fagioli



Spaghetti alla Carbonara



etc. etc. etc.

[Æmeric]

I apologize for this mistake, but in Germany you can be sure that China-food is made by Chinese and Pizza made by Italians, kepab made by Turks etc.

Pizza has move far beyond being "Italian" food in the US. Most people here think of it as "American". But with other ethnics foods it is usually Chinese serve Chinese food or whatever ethnicity/ethnic food it is. There is a relatively new restaurant chain called Panda Express in the Western US, that is normally managed by Chinese, though not all their workers are Chinese. And then there is the Australian chain of steakhouses called The Outback, but I have never seen an Australian in any of those.

[Sigurd]

It has been my experience that the vast majority of pizzerias in the US are run by Greeks. But, whoever makes it, pizza is an AMERICAN dish. The WORD "pizza" comes from the Bay of Naples area, but none of the pizzas of that area before the late 1950's bore any resemblance to what we call a pizza, namely, a tomato-and-cheese pie.

That is incorrect. Americans talk of something substantially different when they speak of Pizza than Europeans do. American pizza is usually baked deep-pan, with a huge amount of dough - whilst European pizza is generally about as thick as a fingernail. In the UK you can get both types, marketted as either "deep pan" or "thin crust" - but at home in Austria, it being so close to Italy I have yet to see a pizzeria that does the American style pizza.

[Nachtengel]

That is incorrect. Americans talk of something substantially different when they speak of Pizza than Europeans do. American pizza is usually baked deep-pan, with a huge amount of dough - whilst European pizza is generally about as thick as a fingernail. In the UK you can get both types, marketted as either "deep pan" or "thin crust" - but at home in Austria, it being so close to Italy I have yet to see a pizzeria that does the American style pizza.

Yes! The pizza in normal pizzerias here in Europe is thin. But I went to a Pizza Hut sometimes which makes American style pizza, and there they ask you how you like the dough, there is very thick and there is very thin pizza.

[Thusnelda]

In the Southern German areas we're too close to get that chemical stuff anyway, I couldn't think of many proper pizzerias (rather than Turkish take-aways who often do pizzas too) who aren't normal family-owned businesses and proper restaurants.

We have many pizzerias here who are family-owned, and in some of them you can even watch how they make the fresh pastry of the pizza. Stone-Ofen-Pizza is really delicious.
(If you ever are in Obertauern for Skiing you must visit the Pizzeria "Hintertürl" there. They make the best pizza I know and you can watch the whole process of making)

'Fact I've often enough eaten home-made pizza at my parents'. It's a delicious thing, unless it comes from the shelf.

My family members (and also I) tried to make Pizza often, but honestly I think something is always missing. It tastes good, yes, but there isn´t that specific "Pizza"-flavor you get in a pizzeria. I suppose it has something to do with the pastry?
My attempts to make own pizza end up in some kind of "Auflauf mit Pizzaauflage". *g* It tastes unique, but not really like a pizza.