Neatorama readers know that pizza originated in Naples, Italy. It was an evolutionary step in the “flatbread plus other stuff” tradition that was thousands of years old, but Naples made it famous in the 18th century as the city grew. But while pizza was well-known, it wasn’t all that well-regarded. It was considered cheap food for the poor.
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For a long time, pizzas were scorned by food writers. Associated with the crushing poverty of the lazzaroni, they were frequently denigrated as ‘disgusting’, especially by foreign visitors. In 1831, Samuel Morse – inventor of the telegraph – described pizza as a ‘species of the most nauseating cake … covered over with slices of pomodoro or tomatoes, and sprinkled with little fish and black pepper and I know not what other ingredients, it altogether looks like a piece of bread that has been taken reeking out of the sewer’.
When the first cookbooks appeared in the late 19th century, they pointedly ignored pizza. Even those dedicated to Neapolitan cuisine disdained to mention it – despite the fact that the gradual improvement in the lazzaroni’s status had prompted the appearance of the first pizza restaurants.
So how did pizza go from such disdain to what it is today? For that you can thank Margherita of Savoy. Read that story at History Today. -via Damn Interesting
Source: neatorama