Strange Pie

[Captain Vegetable]

Who are you? Mario Bitalli?

P.S. No right-thinking human being askes for "squid ink" on anything, let alone pizza.

[Rich]

Well, if you ever go to Italy, the best pizza is in the "ankle" of the boot. Campagnia, Basilicata, and Molise. Be forewarned, though; if you grew up with American pizza, you're probably not going to like the real thing. American pizza is its own creation. The stuff you'll get over there has very sweet sauce and the mozzarella is laid onto it in thick strips, cold, after the pizza has been cooked. And if you say, "mootzalell" or whatever else it is that people over here think they're saying properly, you'll get strange looks.

Hehe.

Heh, I know how to pronounce my words in Italian.
I've grown up in an Italian family my whole life, all from Naples; and I know I would love Italian pizza. Much more than American pizza, I assume. In Naples, at least, the pizza is a very light sauce with alot of
grated cheese melted on it. Truth be told, I don't think they even use mozarella in Naples.

[Captain Vegetable]

Truth be told, I don't think they even use mozarella in Naples.

That's because they're all sick in the head.

You know, pizza isn't even of Italian origin. It's Chinese. Marco Polo brought it back with him to Italy after his journey because he loved it so much.

[Rich]

Pizza as we know it today was created in Naples.

The common belief is that Italians invented the pizza, however the origins go back to the ancient times. Babylonians, Israelites, Egyptians and other ancient Middle Eastern cultures were eating flat, un-leaven bread that had been cooked in mud ovens. The bread was much like a pita, which is still common in Greece and the Middle East today. Further it is known that ancient Mediterranean people such as the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians were eating the bread, topped seasoned with olive oil and native spices.

The lower class of the Naples, Italy is believed to have created pizza in a more familiar fashion. In the late 1800s a Italian baker named Raffaele Esposito, was believed to have created a dish for visiting royalty. According to the story, the Italian monarch King Umberto and his consort, Queen Margherita were touring the area. In order to impress them and to show his patriotic fervor Raffaele chose to top flat bread with food that would best represent the colors of Italy: red tomato, white mozzarella cheese and green basil. The king and queen were so impressed that word quickly reached the masses. The end results were that the dish was well received to the extent that others began to copy it.

http://aboutpizza.com/history/

[Captain Vegetable]

I'm right, you're wrong.

[Wildkat]

That's because they're all sick in the head.

You know, pizza isn't even of Italian origin. It's Chinese. Marco Polo brought it back with him to Italy after his journey because he loved it so much.

Actually I believe the story was PASTA brought back from china by Marco Polo.

But its considered more Legend that fact...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti

[sggg]

Actually, supposedly the first place pasta was made is in Africa. Then it travelled to Asia and then Europe. I heard that on Food TV, so take it for what it's worth. The story about Marco Polo is definitely urban legend however, because pasta was there before his time.

Another ironic thing about Italian food is how important the tomato is, since the tomato was not present in Europe until after the discovery of the Americas.... and thought to be poison until only a few hundred years ago!

Interesting videogame related note I found online "The mistaken idea that tomatoes were poisonous probably arose because the plant belongs to the Nightshade family, of which some species are truly poisonous. The strong, unpleasant odor of the leaves and stems also contributed to the idea that the fruits were unfit for food."

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/p...rs/tomato.html

[Calliander]

This thread turned into a very informative history lesson!

[Jester]

I'm right, you're wrong.

Sorry Cap, you're wrong. Naples invented pizza. The flatbread crust came from Africa, the tomatoes from the Americas, the basil from Naples, and the Olive oil from somewhere in Italy. Neaoplitan[sp?] pizza sucks though.

I'm all for variation in my pizza. After watching "follow that pizza" on Food network I decided to try the australian style bacon and eggs pizza. It's really good, you take a fresh pizza crust dough (not bread dough),put it in a cast iron frying pan, put on the sause, whole thick slices of bacon, and the cheese, and cook it on a bbq grill. Right befroe it's done you put on a raw egg and cook it sunny side up. It was beautiful.

Grave is right, Lou Malnati's rules. All you burnt crust eatin New Yorkers and New Haveners can keep that junk. Chicago Deep dish is the perfection of pizza evolution.

[Captain Vegetable]

I've had a bacon and eggs pizza before. Very tastey.