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Monday, June 20, 2011

Let's Talk....Pizza!

Why pizza? Well, this morning around a quarter to one, I found myself nibbling on some pizza. The game was over and by staying up so late my body realized it had missed out on dinner due to an amazing lunch. So that paired with a 10 year old's retelling of what he learned in school about pizza and tomatoes while dinning on pizza yesterday, I'm passing it your way for the next time you need some trivia knowledge.

Pizza was originally thought of as a "poor man's meal" since the entire meal was in the one time. It's been suggested that pizza was created when the Romans were making edible plates and rather than eating it last, they began to eat it all at once.

Did you know that Italians used to think tomatoes were poisonous? Clearly somewhere along the line some brave soul gave them a try. History credits this"taste test" to starving peasants sometime in the 1530's,  and just like that tomatoes go from a poisonous decorative plant to pizza toppings and a main ingredient in Italian cooking.

Now I can't recall if I shared the story of pizza Margherita when I've been sampling the various versions but long story short- it's named after Italy's Queen Margherita who in 1889 visited the Pizzeria Brandi in Naples. The pizza maker that day, Rafaele Esposito created a pizza for the Queen that contained the three colors of the new Italian flag. The red of tomato, white of the mozzarella and fresh green basil was a hit with the Queen and the rest of the world.

Papa Murphy's, Round Table, Little Caesar's, Pizza Hut, or even Fattie's pizza don't even begin to compare the pizza I've been chomping down over here. There are a few key differences:
  • Crusts are about 1/8 the thickness out here
  • Toppings are just that- a light dusting of cheese, veggies, meat, herbs
  • Everything tastes fresh (as in you don't taste the preservatives because they aren't there!)
  • Since a pizza here is about 1/4 of the ingredients typically found on 1 US pizza, you can eat an entire one and not feel like a piggy! (As a pizza lover this is perhaps the best part!)

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