Pizza History Explained

The Ancient Pizza Different types of flatbreads were common all over the ancient world, and often topped with whatever was around. Persian soldiers of the Achaemenid Empire baked flatbreads with cheese and dates on top of their battle shields, and the Romans had a version called Panis Focaccius, a flatbread baked in the ashes of a fire, sometimes topped with olive oil, cheese, or whatever herbs were growing nearby. Peasants ate it daily because it was cheap and practical, and it could be eaten without a table, an early version of fast food sold by street vendors to the working poor. Archaeological excavations in Pompeii have found paintings of these flatbreads on the walls, and actual loaves of bread were preserved in the city's bakeries. They look surprisingly similar to modern pizza crust, even after 2000 years. The word pizza first appeared in writing in 997 CE in central Italy. Most experts trace it back to an old word meaning to pound or to stamp, describing how bakers pressed dough flat with their hands. That same technique is still used today. Red Gold Pizza as we know it only became possible when Spanish explorers brought tomatoes from America into Europe in the 1500s. At first, they were treated more like a decorative plant than food. Part of the problem was that tomatoes are related to nightshade, which is actually poisonous, so people were scared to eat them for about 200 years. Things eventually changed in Naples. The city was ruled by Spain at the time, which meant lots of new American crops were around, and poor Neapolitans who were desperate for food started experimenting with cooking tomatoes down into a sauce. Soon after, they were spreading it on their flatbreads and created the first real pizza. It turns out, the land around Naples was perfect for growing tomatoes. The volcanic soil near Mount Vesuvius produced tomatoes with an incredible sweet and tangy flavor. This is where the famous San Marzano tomato came from. The tomatoes added moisture, tang, and a deep tasty flavor that dry flatbread never had. Those early tomato pizzas were usually topped with oil, oregano, and garlic, which eventually became the classic pizza marinara. The Margherita In 1889, the newly unified Italian nation had a king and queen, Umberto I and Queen Margherita. They were visiting Naples, and the queen, reportedly tired of the sophisticated French cuisine that was the standard for European royalty, wanted to try something local. A pizzaiolo named Raphael Esposito was called to prepare three types of pizza for her. One of them had tomato, mozzarella, and fresh basil, red, white, and green, the colors of the Italian flag. The queen loved it. Esposito named it in her honor, the Margherita. Historians have poked holes into this story. Similar pizzas existed before 1889. The famous letter of royal approval may be fake, but either way, pizza was becoming less of a poor man's food and more of a national pride. Great Migration Between 1880 and 1914, roughly 4 million Italians emigrated to the United States. Most of them were from the south, from Naples, Sicily, and Calabria. They settled in dense urban enclaves like New York's Little Italy, where they sought to recreate the comforts of home through their traditional food. Pizza showed up naturally. At first, it was a community food eaten by Italian immigrants in Italian neighborhoods. The first documented American pizzeria is Lombardi's, which opened in New York City in 1905. Gennaro Lombardi had been selling pizzas from a grocery store on Spring Street, and eventually opened as its own place. Early American pizzerias started tweaking the recipe pretty quickly. Back in Naples, pizza was cooked in wood-fired ovens, but in the industrial northeast, coal was way easier to get. So, that's what they used. Coal-fired pizzas ended up with a crispier, drier, smokier crust than the original Neapolitan style. The cheese changed too. Buffalo mozzarella was tough to find in America, so bakers just used regular cow's milk mozzarella instead. Over time, that swap led to the shredded, low-moisture mozzarella you see on American pizza today. The Post-War Boom Despite its presence in major cities, pizza remained a regional ethnic food for the first four decades of the 20th century. It was largely unknown to the general American public. But this changed dramatically after World War II. Hundreds of thousands of American soldiers passed through Italy during the war. They were sick of their boring military rations, and fell in love with the simple, hot, and flavorful pizzas they encountered in the towns they liberated. When they came home, pizza parlors that had been quietly operating in Italian neighborhoods suddenly started getting dozens of customers who weren't Italian. At the same time, America was entering the Post-War Boom. People were moving to the suburbs, they had a little more money, they were going out to eat more, and they were looking for something fun, affordable, and social. By the 1950s, there were pizza parlors in places that had almost no Italian-American population at all. Era of the Chain In the 1950s and 1960s, pizza chains began to expand rapidly. The first major pizza chain was Pizza Hut. Founded in Wichita, Kansas in 1958 by two brothers, Dan and Frank Carney, with a $600 loan from their mother. Within a year, they had multiple locations. Within a decade, hundreds. Domino's and Little Caesars followed with slightly different models. Pizza Hut was a sit-down experience with a specific thin crust. Domino's was built around delivery. Little Caesars pushed volume and value. By the 1970s, the big chains were everywhere and created a consistent, standardized, and accessible version of pizza. By 1990, Americans were eating about 3 billion pizzas a year, and it became a staple of American life. Global Variations As pizza spread worldwide, different cultures adapted it to local tastes. In Brazil, pizza is extremely popular, but looks very different from the original version. Brazilian pizzas are known for their extremely thin crusts and an abundance of varied toppings. It's not uncommon to find pizzas topped with corn, green peas, hard-boiled eggs, or even mashed potatoes. A unique feature of Brazilian pizza is the use of catupiry, a creamy cheese that is often piped into the crust itself. In Japan, pizza arrived in the 1970s and absorbed local flavors. Japanese pizza often features mayo, corn, seafood, and teriyaki chicken. Natto, the pungent fermented soybeans, has also appeared as a topping. Kebab pizza is a combination of Italian and Turkish foods that was invented in Sweden by Middle Eastern immigrants in the 1980s and is very popular in Scandinavia. Because the basic structure of a pizza, a flat base with toppings, is so versatile, almost every country has its own local flavors and dietary preferences. This process is often called glocalization. The Modern Slice Pizza is one of the most consumed foods in the modern world. There are pizza restaurants in nearly every country, and frozen pizza is a multi-billion dollar industry on its own. Today, pizza ranges from dollar slices in big cities to high-end gourmet versions topped with truffles, hot honey, and burrata. Online ordering and delivery apps made it easier than ever, with tracking systems and fast delivery. Another big change is personalization. Build-your-own pizza chains allow customers to choose every topping and watch it bake in minutes. From the 2000s onward, small pizzerias started focusing on long-fermented dough, high-quality flour, and imported Italian tomatoes. Many regional styles, like the Detroit-style pizza baked in steel pans with crispy cheese edges, became trendy far beyond Michigan. Even Roman-style pizza Italio, sold by the square and cut with scissors, started appearing in new markets. Asia has seen the fastest growth in pizza sales globally over the past two years, with unique regional spins like seafood toppings and new cheese combinations. Domino's, for example, planned in 2024 to double its store count in India from 2,000 to 4,000 locations within a few years. 93% of Americans eat at least one pizza per month, the highest average on the planet. Pizza has gone from a Neapolitan street food to one of the biggest food industries on Earth.