OnTap Magazine

o serve whole and cut up with a knife and fork or to pre-cut and eat each slice with your hands? To top with anchovies and olives, several kinds of meat, the ever-contentious pineapple or just plain cheese and herbs? To make a base that’s thick and doughy or wafer thin and perfectly crisped around the edges? For at least 200 years, every aspect of how to serve and eat pizza has been hotly debated. By the time the word ‘pizza’ was in use, people had been topping various types of atbread with vegetables, lard, meat and cheese for more than a thousand years. But food historians mark the birth of the pizza to have taken place in Naples in the late 18 th century. Traditional Neapolitan pizza is now a protected species, classed as a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed dish by the EU, and its preparation declared a part of Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. ere was one ingredient in particular that really put pizza on the map, separating it from its food-topped atbread brethren, and it’s the part of the pizza that you’re probably least bothered about: the tomato. First brought to Europe from the Americas in the 16 th century, the tomato was initially thought to be poisonous. Once botanists worked out it was indeed edible, it added a touch of acidity to a snack of bread topped with lard or oil or cheese. e ingredients united, and pizza more or less as we know it was born. ACROSS THE POND Pizza started o as a street snack, though there is some debate on what the typical toppings would have been. Anchovies are mentioned in early reports, perhaps proving once and for all that the salty little sh are the very best pizza topping. Other accounts suggest that pizza started out as a sweet dish, although no 18 th -century Neapolitan is known to have chopped up a pineapple and scattered it atop their bread. e Hawaiian pizza was actually invented in Canada in 1962, but rst, pizza would undergo a few other crucial changes. Before it left Italy, pizza was already known in several incarnations. Neapolitan fans liked their base thin but pliant while the addition of oil to the dough gave Roman pizza a distinct crunch. Further south in Sicily, a local version known as s ncione became popular. S ncione was more akin to focaccia than a thin ‘n’ crispy pizza and is perhaps even more notable for the fact that the tomato sauce is often served over the toppings rather than underneath, to save the thick, spongy base from getting soggy. e “Sicilian Pizza” made its way across the Atlantic with some of the earliest Italian immigrants to the USA in the late 19 th century, along with its Neapolitan counterpart. Pizza joints soon followed, with Lombardi’s in New York claiming the title of first pizzeria in America, opening in 1905. Italian immigrants were of course key customers for the early pizza makers, but their business also received a boost after World War II, when troops returned from the Italian campaign with a palate for pasta and pizza. It was around this time that pizza really took o in the USA, nding its own identity in di erent parts of the country. To research the di erent American adaptations of pizza is to fall down a Wikipedia rabbit hole. You’ve doubtless heard of Chicago deep-dish, which originated in the Windy City in the mid-20 th century. Baked in a pan, its thick, crunchy sides give it the appearance of a pie or quiche more than a pizza. e thick layer of toppings takes a while to cook, so to avoid a coating of burnt cheese, the deep-dish is typically assembled upside down, with the cheese beneath the toppings and the tomato sauce on top. To a pizza purist, it is perhaps the equivalent of adding maize, owers and fruit to a traditional Munich Helles. WORLD DOMINATION e Chicagoan version is probably one of the best known regional variations of pizza in the US, but there are many more. Detroit pizza is thick-based and rectangular, traditionally baked in trays originally designed for use in the automotive industry; California pizza has a familiar base but pioneered the non- traditional topping with anything from BBQ chicken to duck pâté; New York-style pizza is recognisable by its size (huge), crust (crispy) and soft base (those giant slices need to be pliant enough to fold in half for easier eating). Dating back to a time when people couldn’t always a ord to buy a whole “pie”, it has always been sold in slices. Speaking of pie, why do people sometimes refer to pizza as pie? Well there are more myths and versions of this story than there are about the origin of the IPA, but it does seem to begin with those early Italian arrivals. I suppose a pizza is not so dissimilar to a pie – it has a crust and a lling, or at least a topping. And one version has retained its original moniker – the tomato pie, whose origins begin at the turn of the 20 th century. Think the German “Purity Law” is restrictive? It’s nothing compared to the guidelines laid out by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (True Neapolitan Pizza Association). Formed in 1984, the organisation’s goal is to preserve the original pizza. For a pizza to be considered Neapolitan it must be hand-tossed – rolling pins are out – and use only specified ingredients in the dough. There are regulations on tomatoes (tinned version is OK but they should be strained and broken up by hand), on mozzarella, and on the herbs used (fresh basil only). It must all be cooked in a wood-fired oven and never in a pan. There are guidelines on temperatures and times, and strict limits on size – the pizza can be no more than 35cm in diameter and only ¼ cm thick at its centre. Deep dish, stuffed crust and New York-style pizzas need not apply. PIZZA’S REINHEITSGEBOT Cut into rectangular slices, it is often served without mozzarella and is thick and doughy like s ncione. Indeed, it sometimes goes by the name of Sicilian pizza, when it’s not being called gravy pie, church pie or strip pizza. And I thought explaining the di erence between lager and pilsner was tricky… Pizza’s versatility is doubtless one of the reasons that it holds such global popularity. It is also generally a ordable, it is lling and of course, it is largely delicious. But how did a peasant dish from southern Italy go on to become the favourite Friday night dinner almost the world over? Well for that, we have to look to the Americans: speci cally Dan and Frank Carney and Tom and Jim Monaghan. ese two sets of brothers started two of the world’s most successful chain restaurants – Pizza Hut and Domino’s, respectively. Starting with one restaurant in 1958, the Carneys quickly grew the brand and today To a pizza purist, it is perhaps the equivalent of adding maize, flowers and fruit to a traditional Munich Helles ontapmag.co.za | Winter 2020 | 47